The Days are Surely Coming . . .

When children are especially good; when the smell of cookies and pine needles fill the air; when visions of sugarplums dance in our heads.

Yes, the days are surely coming . . .

When you must untangle endless miles of Christmas lights; when someone beats you to your parking spot at the Florence Y'all; when someone runs over your heels with their grocery cart at the Kroger.

The days are surely coming . . .

When Christmas trees will overflow with DVD players and MP3 players
and Ipods galore;

When our hips and thighs will overflow from cookies and fudge and
Chex party mix and more.

Yes, the days are surely coming . . .

This week begins a new season in the church year . . . the season of Advent. "Advent" means the "coming or arrival of something extremely important." That "extremely important" something is Christ. We prepare for the coming of Christmas - we prepare for Jesus' coming, during Advent. The prophet Jeremiah prophesied during a time of great turmoil in Jerusalem - even the destruction of the city and of the Jewish temple. It was in the midst of this devastation and other world-changing events that would not go well for the Israelites - that Jeremiah preached a message of the hope to come. The days are surely coming . . . No matter what horrors engulf our lives, God always is there, offering us hope. Yes, the days are surely coming.

Days of justice and righteousness. Days of safety and salvation. Days of peace and shalom. Days when love will be the basis for all our actions. Days of health and wholeness. Days of well-being for people who have walked in darkness. Days of no pain...days of no more tears.

Yes, the days are surely coming . . .

The days are surely coming when aids is cured.

The days are surely coming when every gun is beaten into a tool for rebuilding.

The days are surely coming . . . when every child has the opportunity to develop God-given gifts; and every adult sees every child as a gift from God.

The days are surely coming . . .

The days are surely coming when:
No city fears hurricanes
No country fears nuclear bombs
No tribe fears annihilation by another.

The days are surely coming when no person fears another because God chose to create all people in the diversity of God's image.

The days are surely coming . . .

----------------------

This is basically my Advent meditation from morning worship. As I present it here for you, for some sick reason Bill O'Reilly and his so-called "War on Christmas" came to mind. The Unruly Mob consists of Christians, Spiritualists, Atheists, secular humanists and more. But I knew that even in all our variety, we could still come together and paint a vision of the world that one day could come to pass. Bill has his war. Tell me about your hope for the world. I believe that day surely is coming.