Only to sit and think of God,
Oh what a joy it is!
To think the thought, to breathe the name
Earth has no higher bliss.
~Frederick William Faber (1814-1863)
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His offspring forever.”
~ Mary, in Luke 1
Oh beloved, it is true. There is something true about us that we often say, but rarely believe. For we chase our tails around in circles that do not even exist. We worry and pout and spit and complain. The negative of our flesh screams for dominance. And there are weeks and months and years on end that it simply will not be quiet.
But the Truth is true. Beloved, you who have cast yourself on Christ; who have said you have nothing to bring but loss and death and rot and need – have been saved.
Say it again beloved. Say it out loud.
“i am Saved.”
Stop. Just breath. Do we have any what this means?
An infinitely Good
enormously Powerful
astoundingly Holy
perfectly Loving
incomprehensibly Merciful
totally Righteous
delightfully Joyful
jaw-droppingly Gracious
utterly Able
completely Willing
entirely Enthusiastic Being, Who is beyond eternity and infinity and comprehension and measure and anything else we could come up with, has mightily Saved us from death and sin and self and time.
We are now utterly free in a universe which is but the incubator for the children who will emerge in an eternal Kingdom of righteousness and Joy and Peace that will have no end. An eternity of eternities will be but the introduction to the unfolding of the plan He has for His new servant kings and queens. And the patterns of creation and relationship and energy and movement are but the four-dimensional drawings for the real New Heavens and New Earth to come.
Even now, we live in eternity. For, through the presence of the One who has enfolded Himself into eternity and existence that we might know Him, He has entered into our moment with all of who He is. Everything that G_d was and is and is to come, comes to us as we yield to it. And even at the slightest yielding, He invades territory within us (destroys the destruction) and leaves it happy, joyous, and free within us.
And even in the skirmishes we experience in this world, there is this power which exceeds (read overwhelms) anything that comes against us. The Grace He is brings us to an understanding that we His favorite. In fact, as the writer has said, our Papa is particularly fond of us. And as our belief in His Love towards us firms into a conviction, the fear and flesh and failure we once experienced begin to slough off like old itchy skins. There will be many layers to shed, but they come off in ever deeper swaths as His blade (The Word) can move now through our soft hearts and frame.
Can we see it? We’ve heard it in the mass, and in church and in places like the second letter of Peter. We are beginning to participate in the divine nature of the One who has saved us. Oh, the distance will always be between that which is finite and that which is Infinite – which is infinite. But, we do indeed begin to look just like Him. There is a nobility and bravery and whole goodness emerging within us. And this goodness wells up within us, we can begin to pour it all out on those in need around us.
He has enormous plans for us. We are His. We are one with Him. And He is Majestic. He is Beautiful beyond words. And He has told us that He is conforming us to His likeness. Beloved, tonight is your night to believe you are saved. You are Saved to the uttermost. And we have only begun to begin to see what this means. This is very good news.
