written by Doug Heatwole, a St. Mark UMC Lay Speaker
We who live today must know that we have been part of an unsustainable world. That world is now coming to an end. But the new world, the world to come, will be unlike the previous one. It will be one of goodness, truth, beauty, and love.
This transformation will leave behind all the hatred and fear and loneliness of the world that is coming to an end. Societal transformation is a process many years in the making. Our desire for it to be over does not quicken its passage. There will be suffering while we learn the lessons of our unsustainable actions.
The passing and loss of what we have known and formerly trusted will be heartbreaking. But only in the burning of our suffering is there sufficient heat to bake the new, amazing world that is to come. As we together endure the pain of this era-ending time, may we have hope and patience and know that a new, generative and loving world is on the horizon.