What We're Waiting For

I've been waiting for this for a few years now. Waiting for a change. Waiting for a new chapter. Waiting for a future to believe in.

I've been waiting for hope - hope in our country. Hope in democracy. Hope to restore us to where we were. As if the last few years hadn't happened. As if it were just a dream - a bad dream. As if it were just an aberration.

An election will solve everything, right? 

But November isn't what we're waiting for. November is a call to action; a conviction of our civic duty. But we're waiting for much more than that, because the last few years weren't just an aberration.

We're waiting for systems to no longer reward sin and greed, but to punish those that corrupt power.

We're waiting for white supremacy to come to its knees. An election won't dismantle centuries of white supremacy; it won't change the racist hearts and cultures, nor centuries of racist structures.

We're waiting for our fellow believers to finally see that our faith is not tied to politics; our allegiance not to a man or a party, but to a just, compassionate and sovereign God.

An election isn't the solution to those ills that plague us. It's the necessary start - it's an affirmation of what can be, but it's not what we're waiting for. It doesn't solve a vitriolic culture, it doesn't solve racism and mysogyny and bigtory, and it sure doesn't solve the corruption of man that seeks to advance their interests over others'.

So our hope is not only in an election. Our hope not in leaders, who ultimately, are not perfect. Our hope not in a democracy founded on broken systems and subject to the will of a broken people. Our hope is in a God who is faithful and who relentlessly pursues us even as we stray from Him.

And so, we're going to vote, and then the work continues. But above all we're waiting on Jesus. We trust in you, Jesus. Over the next five weeks and beyond, we remember that we are waiting for you. May your will be done.