Congregational Response to a Sermon on Mark 13

We know not the day nor the hour.
It may be tomorrow, it may be 500 years hence.
We live in the now and the not yet –
the Kingdom has come, is coming, and
is yet to come.
Troubling signs abound: wars, rumors of wars,
famine, flood, earthquake and storm,
evil is strong and destruction abounds.
Troubling signs are all around us, and yet. . .
and yet we cling to this truth:
God is still on his throne,
God is still in control,
and justice and righteousness will prevail.
Good will win in the end, for God will win in the end.
And so we wait, in faith and anticipation,
enduring hardship and calamity,
rejoicing in suffering,
working to see God’s Kingdom Come on earth
as it is in heaven;
working for peace and truth and righteousness,
so that, should Christ return tomorrow or in
ten thousand years, he will find us faithfully
at his work. And in that day we shall see the
final victory and vindication of God’s rule,
and the fulfillment of all our hopes and dreams.
Amen