Hello,
A big spring storm came through yesterday, and I watched it in the protective cover of my house. The big windows to the west and east provided me with plenty of sight to see it’s fury. When the storm began, my two dogs were with me in my loft, but as soon as the thunder started rolling in the distance, my older dog, Duncan, headed for the basement. He’s become quite averse to storms and loud noises at his older age. My younger dog, MacMahon, rested comfortable on the floor, only occasionally lifting his head when thunder clapped.
When all of the sudden a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, so near to our house that I could see (and smell) its earthly connecting spot. Even though it was in the middle of the afternoon, the sky lit up when it struck, and the sound that came with it was immediate and shook my house. Windows rattled. The rafters creaked. Needless to say, MacMahon jumped up, and I sat up straight. What a powerful awakening!
The storm, of course, had not suddenly gained power over me, it is just that when the lightning strikes and thunder peals were far in the distance, I wasn’t aware of the degree of the storm’s power. The booms and the flashes made little to no impression on me. But when the lightning bolt struck near my home, an impression was definitely made.
In my mind, that is the whole point of the Christian faith. Christians confess the witness that in Jesus Christ God came visibly near (near enough to smell?) to us in order that God would make an impression on us. And what is that impression? The power of God’s love for us. It is not that God’s love suddenly gained power when God struck near to us in Jesus, it is just that in the incarnation (God becoming human in Jesus) that power hit with a brightness and intensity that comes with a near hitting lightning bolt. God aimed his love to strike as close as God could to us, to shake up our lives and rattle our hopes. Sure, God’s love has been thundering throughout all of time and space (even outside of time and space), but lest that love leave us unmoved, God, in Jesus bolted upon us in human form, and continues to strike closer than we can imagine in water, bread and wine.
CRASH! BANG! I LOVE YOU!
Jesus said that he came to bring life…to wake us up out of the doldrums of our days, to shatter the dark shroud of our fear and shame, to rattle us loose from hopelessness and contentment with what is, to stand us strong on our feet against despair, and to sit us up straight in thankfulness and praise of the one who has us in his power.
Sometimes God’s love seems so far away. Sometimes it seems so quiet when it rumbles. Thank God, that God is not willing to let me sadly and slovenly slumber in faraway rumbling and flashes of his love for me. No, for me, and for you, God is aiming a “love-bolt” that strikes so near that it will leave you with an impression…..a great impression!
CRASH! BANG! I LOVE YOU!
Get ready to be stirred!
Have a great week!
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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