Days.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. – Jeremiah 31:31

“The days are surely coming…” are words of hope and consolation. Our experience in this earthly exile weighs on our hearts and we long for the days that “thy kingdom come.”

 “The days are surely coming…,” we might say, when the pandemic will end, and life will return to “normal.” Vacations will return. Families and friends will be visited. We watch the news of vaccines and dropping rates of spread. The days are surely coming.

“The days are surely coming…,” we might say, when violence against women and children, persons of Asian and African descent, and all of God’s beloved will cease. War ends, and Christ’s peace reigns. The days are surely coming.

“The days are surely coming…,” we might say, when our LGBTQ siblings in Christ will have their love validated by the church who preaches love of neighbor and welcome the stranger but denies them Christ’s own body and blessing. The days are surely coming.

“The days are surely coming…,” we might say, when every child who wants to learn may grow up in safety and the ability to live to their full potential, and every school and teacher is fully funded, so that no one is missed. The days are surely coming.

“The days are surely coming…,” we might say, when every person who without home, or food, will be housed and fed, and each person who is unemployed or underemployed will find meaningful work, at a livable wage to support themselves and the people who depend on them. The days are surely coming.

“The days are surely coming…,” we might say, when all of God’s beloved are made whole in mind, body, and spirit, and no one feels they have to face depression, anxiety, addiction, illness, or death alone. The days are surely coming.

“The days are surely coming…”, the Lord says, “that I will be their God and they shall be my people…for they shall know me the least of them to the greatest.”
The days are surely coming.

As we wait, pray, and live for the days that are surely coming, we are called by the promise to do what we can now so the days that are surely coming don’t feel so far away. The days will come with or without us, but we pray here that the days that are surely coming may come to us.

Lord, grant me the serenity me to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Amen. (The Serenity Prayer)