Prayer for December 28, 2021

Prayer for December 28, 2021: Please pray with me. When does it end? That’s the question that keeps rising up. When will the injustice end for so many? When will homelessness end? When will poverty end? When will the pandemic end? When will partisanship end? When will abuse end? When will exploitation end? When will manipulation end? When will violence end? When will it all end? It can be overwhelming if we focus on when it will end completely. That isn’t our calling though. These things continue on. We will not see an ending of them until the world is transformed by you Lord. So maybe the question isn’t when will any of these things end, but instead the question is how are you calling us to live in spite of how broken the world is? How are you calling your followers to proclaim hope and live in joy in spite of a world that is hopeless and sucks the joy out of people on purpose? How are we to live now while it all continues on with no end in sight? We are to live in the promises you have made because you always keep your promises. We are to live in the hope that you give us. We are to live in proclamation of shalom. We are to live in the way of peace — being makers of peace, not peace keepers. We are to live by seeing the image of God in others even as the world is blind. We are to live seeking justice that we may find it where it exists. We are to live not waiting for the end, but living as if the end were already here. That’s what faithful living is — an already expectation that is evident now, even in spite of how the world behaves. Because how the world is, is not sustainable, and it will end. It’s only a matter of time. That is why we can have joy. That is why we have hope. Amen.

Call to Action: Look for the good. Look for where justice is happening. Look for the image of God. Look for the way of peace. When we look for these things, we will find them. And they will nourish us and so many others.

Originally published at https://pastormatthewbest.com on December 28, 2021.