If you have enough time, read Revelation 21.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Revelation 21:2
Anyone attending a wedding this summer?
I still remember my own wedding – 15 years ago last month.
I was a lot younger, a lot skinnier, had more hair on my head, and a lot more naïve – scratch that – clueless about life.
While I have several strong memories about the wedding the one that sticks in my head the most is the first moment I saw my bride step toward me from the back of the chapel. Now you have to understand that we were very traditional and hadn’t seen each other all day (granted it was an 11am wedding). You also have to understand that we were married at the chapel of our school (two weeks after graduation, mind you), Valparaiso University – which just happens to be the largest university chapel in the country – and one of the largest in the world!!! (Seriously, it is.)
And so, there she was about to take that first step toward, of all people, me – as I waited, standing there at the altar of my Lord. Because of the length of the chapel she looked miles away (the chapel is actually 193 feet long – glad I didn’t have to walk that far!) – and yet I could see her perfectly and, like many a groom I suppose, I was overcome with the emotion of my love for her and her love for me.
Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that my love for her then would actually increase year after year after that first step – and yet this is exactly what has taken place (though I don’t suppose I’m as teary-eyed about it anymore).
Now before you all go “awww, isn’t that sweet” – as sweet as it was for Kathy and me then, this is the image, the picture that the LORD presents us with in regards to His relationship with us!!!
One of the hardest things for people outside of the Church is to comprehend a God who is so head over heels in love with the people of His creation – so much so that He describes us as the bride for whom He so eagerly and excitedly waits. In fact this groom that is Him has gotten so excited that He has run down the aisle to meet us there – and help us Himself to the altar!
I say that this is a very difficult picture for those outside of the Church to comprehend, but even for those who are walking hand in hand with the Groom, on the way to the altar, today – this is difficult to comprehend.
And to think that THIS is the very point of my life (and not everything else that can be so distracting!)!
And even more to imagine that it only gets better after this!!!
Well – if you happen to get to a wedding this summer take a moment to reflect on the one which even now is taking place.
Prayer: Jesus, no matter how many doubts I have about your love, no matter how far I still feel I am from the altar at times, no matter how much fear I have because of the human relationships that have not lived up to hopes and dreams, no matter… help me to learn to appreciate, to recognize, to receive, and by your grace even to reflect your sacrificial, whole hearted love and devotion to me. In your name. Amen.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Little League Lesson
If you have enough time, read Romans 5.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us….For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5: 8, 10
I’m not saying what I did was wrong (and I certainly can’t imagine you telling me that it was) – but it sure made me think and wonder.
What did I do, you ask?
What I did was this – I cheered for my son at his baseball game last weekend.
The score was even – 2-2. The fourth of six innings came up and Coach decides to put my son in as pitcher – for not one, but two innings. Might make many a dad proud – but made me stomach-churning nervous. This being his first year with this 9-10 year olds league, and his first year pitching – YIKES – I really didn’t want him to give up the go ahead run and end up losing the game!!!! Go son go! You can do it! You can get them!
Oh, was I ever hoping for him to get that team out!
It wasn’t until afterward that the irony which my vocation beckons me to notice came to light.
Here I am – a father – cheering, hoping, wishing, yearning (was I even praying as well??) for my son to beat all these other kids on the opposing team while at the same time trying to serve a Father who sent His Son to lose so that the opposing team might win.
(…when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.)
While I was cheering for my son, did I have a single thought about what a homerun, or even a hit might mean to one of the kids coming up to bat? What a win might mean to them, to their team, to their families – to that dad on the other side who was cheering, hoping, wishing, yearning (was he even praying as well?) for his son?
Of course not! I was concerned mainly, if not solely, with my own.
And yet in our Heavenly Father we find a Father who is willing to give up His own for the sake of everyone else – AND a Son who desires the same!
Hey Son, I’ll be so proud of you if you go out there and get creamed.
How strange it seems.
And then the response – absolutely Abba (Dad), Father – that has always been our plan, hasn’t it?
And strangest yet – mainly because it hits home – is when that Son turns to us and says, Now I want you (who have now been made children of God, yourselves) to love others in this same way (John 13:34).
Thankfully I’ll console myself with the thought that Jesus couldn’t possibly have been talking about baseball at the time since it wouldn’t be played for another just less than two thousand years. (Though it does seem that long since the Orioles had a winning season – but I digress.)
Anyhow, living as the son or daughter of God who lives in partnership with the Father and Son in a life of suffering, giving, dying, - losing – for others (yes, even those on the opposing team) might actually be easier on the ball field than in “real life”. And yet that is what we are called to do – for that is what true, real, pure LOVE is.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those how love them. Luke 6:32
And yet, as I continue to wrestle with my own call to love I can only become that much more amazed at His love for me.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach us to trust in your promise that the love we live out by daily dying for the sake of others only leads to resurrection, theirs and ours. And as we don’t have such love within ourselves, give us your love that we might actually live it. In your name. Amen.
OH YEAH – I forgot to tell you – though several batters got on base, no one scored and my son recorded six strikeouts. Then after our ace pitched the last inning the game ended in a tie. This Saturday you’ll find me at our first playoff game – and yes, I’ll still be rooting for my son and his team – but maybe in a little different state of mind.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us….For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Romans 5: 8, 10
I’m not saying what I did was wrong (and I certainly can’t imagine you telling me that it was) – but it sure made me think and wonder.
What did I do, you ask?
What I did was this – I cheered for my son at his baseball game last weekend.
The score was even – 2-2. The fourth of six innings came up and Coach decides to put my son in as pitcher – for not one, but two innings. Might make many a dad proud – but made me stomach-churning nervous. This being his first year with this 9-10 year olds league, and his first year pitching – YIKES – I really didn’t want him to give up the go ahead run and end up losing the game!!!! Go son go! You can do it! You can get them!
Oh, was I ever hoping for him to get that team out!
It wasn’t until afterward that the irony which my vocation beckons me to notice came to light.
Here I am – a father – cheering, hoping, wishing, yearning (was I even praying as well??) for my son to beat all these other kids on the opposing team while at the same time trying to serve a Father who sent His Son to lose so that the opposing team might win.
(…when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.)
While I was cheering for my son, did I have a single thought about what a homerun, or even a hit might mean to one of the kids coming up to bat? What a win might mean to them, to their team, to their families – to that dad on the other side who was cheering, hoping, wishing, yearning (was he even praying as well?) for his son?
Of course not! I was concerned mainly, if not solely, with my own.
And yet in our Heavenly Father we find a Father who is willing to give up His own for the sake of everyone else – AND a Son who desires the same!
Hey Son, I’ll be so proud of you if you go out there and get creamed.
How strange it seems.
And then the response – absolutely Abba (Dad), Father – that has always been our plan, hasn’t it?
And strangest yet – mainly because it hits home – is when that Son turns to us and says, Now I want you (who have now been made children of God, yourselves) to love others in this same way (John 13:34).
Thankfully I’ll console myself with the thought that Jesus couldn’t possibly have been talking about baseball at the time since it wouldn’t be played for another just less than two thousand years. (Though it does seem that long since the Orioles had a winning season – but I digress.)
Anyhow, living as the son or daughter of God who lives in partnership with the Father and Son in a life of suffering, giving, dying, - losing – for others (yes, even those on the opposing team) might actually be easier on the ball field than in “real life”. And yet that is what we are called to do – for that is what true, real, pure LOVE is.
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those how love them. Luke 6:32
And yet, as I continue to wrestle with my own call to love I can only become that much more amazed at His love for me.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach us to trust in your promise that the love we live out by daily dying for the sake of others only leads to resurrection, theirs and ours. And as we don’t have such love within ourselves, give us your love that we might actually live it. In your name. Amen.
OH YEAH – I forgot to tell you – though several batters got on base, no one scored and my son recorded six strikeouts. Then after our ace pitched the last inning the game ended in a tie. This Saturday you’ll find me at our first playoff game – and yes, I’ll still be rooting for my son and his team – but maybe in a little different state of mind.
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