For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11, KJV)
As we look ahead, as we can, this year, we see perhaps not very far into the future. We picture an 'after' time, after the virus pandemic.
We do not picture a return to the past but a hopeful future. A future built in the hope of God and the knowledge of God's care for us, and with us, as we work together, build together, with God, a new age.
Not one we wanted, not one we selected for ourselves. Nobody in such a time of crisis, of extended disaster, of shared adversity, even only psychic, or as close as our breath, would select such a time.
We hold on to hope, not foolishly, but in the knowledge that we are with God and God is with us.
Suddenly every day in the daily office, the morning and evening and night prayers of the Episcopal Church, in the lectionary selections of readings from Scripture, Hebrew Bible, psalms, epistles, Gospels, and writings, there is something that pops out in a new way.
To remind us that we are not alone. We are not alone in suffering. We are not alone in rebuilding. We were never alone. But now perhaps we notice, in a new way. We are co-creators, resilient in hope, because we know that God is with us.
May be not in our minds or our emotions but deep in our innermost being, below despair, hope.
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