Standing on the Promises
The days are surely coming, says the Holy One, when I will fulfill the promise I made. – Jeremiah 33:14a (NRSV, adapted)
Some folks say preachers preach what they most need to hear. If that’s true of some preachers some of the time, maybe it’s also true that devotion writers sometimes write what they need to read. Ahem.
I would be both delusional and dishonest if I denied that I landed on the theme for a recent sermon series because I knew full well that, given these disheartening times, I needed to remember God’s promises. If I needed to ground myself in God’s faithfulness, I figured, maybe other folks did, too.
As I write this devotion during Christmastide, I realize how little I know about what our lives, our nation, and our world will be like by the time you read this.
I don’t know if mass deportations of our immigrant neighbors will have begun. I don’t know if entirely new levels of repression and hatred will have been unleashed or if policies addressing climate-change will have been abandoned. I don’t know how many school shootings will have happened, how many dear ones will have died, or, for that matter, how many patients will have been declared cancer-free, how many siblings of all genders will have fallen in love, or how many good people will have redoubled their commitments to justice and peace.
All I know for sure is that, perhaps more than ever, I will need to be standing on the truth of God’s promises of presence, deliverance, restoration, and justice. Maybe you’re needing that, too. If so, let’s stand there together.
Prayer
When the storms of doubt and fear assail, may I ground myself in your promises. May the day of their fulfillment come soon.
About the AuthorVicki Kemper is the Pastor of First Congregational, UCC, of Amherst, Massachusetts.