Wednesday, September 7, 2005

8 September 2005

Today is again a selection from Kazoh Kitamori.

This all-embracing God resolves our pain and heals our wounds. Accordingly the pain of God which resolves our pain is "love" rooted in his pain. There is reason to believe that the same Hebrew words used in Jeremiah 31:20 and Isaiah 63:15 is translated as "my heart yearns" and "compassion" respectively.

To stand in and to stand with another person in their pain demands something so ordinary it is extraordinary - love. Don't try going into the depths of pain with another person and staying throughout the ride if your "going with that person" is not founded in love. Our God hanging from the cross or walking along the way that led to the cross was and is the shape of love that is the power to defeat the intention of cruelty and brutality and humiliation. The love of our God brings our God to our doorstep and along the pathways of our life so that there will be no place and time in which we will not have a companion who will hold us and bring us all the life that is necessary to be fully present no matter what may be taking place around us. This love is not sentimental. If it was, there would be no Jesus gasping for breath on the cross. The love that heals the pain of the world is bold and deliberate and resisting all notions of life that enable brokenness to prevail among us. Love like this will be here...right here...through all things.

Connection: The Spirit of God continues to pull us into a wider circle of love so that we will find more and more opportunities to be an available presence of God's love active in the world. We all have our close knit rings of love and sacrifice...what might be the next ring that longs for our love to help transform this day?

By your mercy, O Compassionate Lord, you bring us into the domain of your love that enables us to live with others through any pain that will try to turn us away from trusting in your power for life. Praise to you, O Lord. Amen.

No comments:

Post a Comment