ASLC Devotions - Monday

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

Peter is writing to people who were beginning to get a little confused or perhaps even dismayed by the fact that Jesus had not come back again yet and brought to fulfillment all the promises about the end. He is assuring them that God's not late, God's now slow; God is patient, wanting to give plenty of opportunities for faith development and for repentance. Peter is trying to remind people that God is never late, God is seldom early, God is always right on time.

The timing of God is a constant mystery. Peter's words here remind me of conversations I have had with people in the last stages of their life: people who know that they are dying, they may be on hospice care. People often are asking question: why hasn't God taken me yet? Why won't God just let this end? I sympathize with that question. It seems strange and bizarre sometimes. And that is the way our faith often is: strange and bizarre. Know that God's timing is God's timing. God is not slow. God is working right on time. Trust and believe in the promise: God will grant life and hope and joy: perhaps not today and perhaps not tomorrow. But it will happen.

In Christ,
Pastor Seth

Join us for our first midweek Advent service this Wednesday. Dinner will be at 6:15 in the Gathering Space followed by worship in the sanctuary. We will use Holden Evening Prayer and hear a bit of the Christmas story from the perspective of a woman who traveled with Mary and Joseph in the caravan to Nazareth. Visit http://www.allsaintspalatine.org for more information.