December 13
Kristina Johnson, Director of Children’s Ministries
Sometime in May, I had a wonderful dream. In this dream, I was at Park Street leading children’s church again. Everything was back to normal – the room was full of kids and nobody was wearing a mask – the virus was gone. One of the children came up to me with her arms wide open and we gave each other a hug. It was brief, and in the moment following that hug, it was like we both had the same realization that everything was okay. We’re together again! We can hug each other! And simultaneously we reached back toward each other for another hug — one that lasted much longer as we stood there and soaked in the joy and love of being together again.
I am looking forward to the day when this happens. How wonderful it will be to gather again, a full sanctuary with no social distancing or masks, our voices shouting praises to the Lord, and the sound of children’s laughter filling the Ockenga Lobby. But the joy that we will feel then is nothing compared to the joy that is in store for us as described in this passage of Isaiah. The earth that had been created by God to be good from the very beginning, and which was then stained by sin and all of its consequences, will no longer be our home. God will create new heavens and a new earth. There will be no more weeping or crying. Our work will no longer be in vain. Before we call, He will answer. Not only will our former troubles be out of mind, it would seem that our former joys will be out of mind as well, because there will be no greater joy than to be with our very Creator.
We don’t know when God will re-create the new heavens and the new earth, or when Jesus will return and usher in this restoration of our sinful, helpless, and deprived state. But while we wait, we set our eyes on the hope and joy of that future day. On that glorious day, we will experience God in all of His fullness, having been sanctified through the cleansing blood of Jesus. And in the midst of waiting, we know that He is with us even now in our present troubles.