All Will Be Well

We closed our feast last weekend with the toast, “All will be well!” Which, given the news this week and the general state of the world, may sit with you differently. Perhaps it seems naive or stubbornly ignorant. You might say it boldly, loudly, defiantly, “All will be well!” Maybe your voice would be quieter, hopeful, tentative… “All will be well…?”

I’m going to speak it with a mix of defiance, joy and hope today. Because the way we gathered with that feast has obvious ripple-effects of shalom, of wellness and peace and goodness, that really do live a story of “All will be well” in our neighborhoods.

We passed on to Communities in Schools the overflow of gifts that you gave for students in our school system. They will walk a little taller because of the detergent, underwear, and shoes you provided. All will be well.

We fed 50-60 kids through the Coffee Oasis a couple of days this week. On Monday, we made banana bread with a couple of students that we then took back down to the center and handed out. Wednesday, they loved the teriyaki so much that it was gone by 3:00 (eek! They’re open until 5!). So, the next day, I went down with extra snack bags that two of you had put together and found our own Kathy Watson handing out food. We’re connecting. Eating together. Knowing one another. All will be well.

We hosted a table full of guests of all ages for Alpha on Tuesday night. It was such a holy overlap of the feast and our elementary students and even Coffee Oasis that, wow, surely God is at work. We talked about is there more to life than this? An apt question for a week like this if there ever was one. I know I only know in part now - but one day we will know fully, even as we are fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12). All will be well.

Please don’t hear me dismissing or putting my head in the sand about all that is wrong in the world, and perhaps even especially in our nation this week. But if you are spiraling in despair, please allow me to invite you to lift up your eyes. Put down your phone. Walk around your neighborhood. Talk to God about what has you in despair. He’s listening. He sees.

And join us not only in the declaration that, “All will be well,” but in the work – the work of partnering with God as he brings his shalom, his peace, his well-being, to our neighborhoods. We’re praying daily, “Your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And we’re serving daily, eating together, dialoguing, befriending, watching out for one another.

It’s bold. It’s defiant. It’s hopeful. It’s tender. It’s desperate. It’s true. All will be well.

PS If that is feeling like an unattainable phrase, please reach out. We’d love to pray with you . Share a meal with you. Process what’s on your mind and heart.

-Megan Hackman