“I’ll be right here beside you...”
Dear Friends,
A professor and writer Robert Wuthnow* says we transmit our ethical ideas by telling stories. He writes about a volunteer fireman and ambulance attendant named Jack. As a child Jack had to have some teeth extracted. He was terrified. But a nurse standing by said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be right here beside you no matter what happens.” When he woke up from surgery, she was there. She had kept her word.
That experience of being cared for stayed with him. 20 years later his ambulance is called to help a driver pinned upside down in his truck. Jack crawls in the window to get the man out of the wreckage. Gasoline is dripping on both Jack and his patient. The driver is terrified and Jack tells him, “Don’t worry, I’ll be right here beside you, no matter what.” Once rescued the driver tells Jack it was dangerous and crazy for him to stay. To Jack, it seemed natural.
That’s a glimpse of how the big Christian story is meant to work. First, we are cared for by God, we are set free by the Law, and saved by grace. Then as we struggle to follow Jesus, to live God’s Law supported and shaped by grace, we are transformed. A nurse saying, “I’ll be right here beside you” becomes the actions of a man risking his life for a stranger, because deep inside somehow he knows he just can’t leave.
When you put it all together, it’s stunning. God, who created the heavens and the earth, comes close to meeting us. John’s gospel tells us just how close. Jesus becomes a living Temple where God and humankind meet in his own body; He lays his body down for us, the body rises for us, then he invites us to be part of His body, and in that, we come to know God for ourselves.
Even though God is a holy mystery and we can never grasp how deep, wide, or vast His love is, Jesus bridges the distance between us and God. Although, as Paul tells us in Corinthians, we see only in a partial way now, through a glass, darkly, the Christian story tells us God wants to be known. He will come to us when we need Him most. Somehow, God pursues us to save us and know us in Jesus.
As Lent draws to a close, we’re coming down to Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday, we’ll remember Jesus’ last night with his followers, Friday we will recall why this terrible death is called “Good”, Saturday evening at Easter Vigil we’ll celebrate the coming of the light and Jesus’ resurrection. On Easter Sunday, we’ll offer our best to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. Death is conquered and the Kingdom of God reigns.
I invite you to enter into the mystery and magic of walking to the Cross and the Empty Tomb with your community of faith at one of our 87 churches. Alleluia, alleluia, Christ is Risen. As always, I hope I see you at Church!
Blessings,
+G
**Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves. 1996.