I'm using the add on display again this week. Monday The love of God as the end is what I have usually called the pull. God's love already holds what will be. No matter how things 'end' there will be the God whose love knows no end. So even though we see things as the end - the end of our career - the end of a relationship - the end of a trip - the end of the day - the end of life, the love of God is there. If the love of God is there as it was from the beginning, I would think that the end is now been transformed into a beginning. God pulls us into the beginning of all things because God is already at the end. This is one of those reasons I often go back to the expression that God is the Alpha and the Omega. God's love as the end means that the end will be transformed by that love. Within the end of all things is the opportunity for life to begin. The look of that ending is not know - it is only affirmed. The affirmation is simple. God's love will be there and in the midst of that love we face that which has yet to be. Does that mean the end or the beginning. If we have not yet been there - it is the beginning even as it appears to be what we call the end. Tuesday The love of God as the end is encouragement. It is the power that pulls us into whatever we will encounter as we step out into the future. We already stand on the creative love of God from the beginning and now - just so we do not merely stand in one place for the rest of our lives - we are pulled into places and times of which we do not know the ending. We do not know how this day will go. But yes we do. It will end within the embrace of God's love. That is meant to be an open door to whatever is next. It is the voices of Jesus that says, "Come and follow me." Really!? Even when we cannot see around the bend and into the moments ahead of us, God is always calling us into God's love that has prepared a place for us. The gospel writer John speaks of rooms that are prepared for us in 'our Father's mansion.' I buy it. I'm sold. There is this love of God set up and ready for us. We need only come and rest within it - call it home - stretch out and act as though it has been there all along and will be there for ever. That creates encouragement. We are handed a reason to face the stuff of life that we think will be the end of us. We face it because our God promises to be forever present. But the end is end. Things stop there because things come to an end. That can be devastating. No - that is devastating. The end can hurt so much that we run from anything that looks or sounds like it could be the end. We do not do ending well. Unfortunately, our humanity brings with it the ability to know that the end is coming. We don't know what end is coming or when the end is coming or how the end will take place - but it is coming. Knowing the love of God as the end is meant to make us bold - to face it even though we fear it - to take the next step. The love of God as end has the power to pull us into scenarios we have created and even those we have already experienced. I think of Charlie Brown attempting to kick that football and Lucy always - always pulls it out of the way right as he is about to kick it. So how will this adventure in kicking go? It will be a mess - it always is. And yet, Charlie Brown goes for it. He boldly rushes into a future that previously has shown great promise but has consistently put him on his butt. Yes, the end we face may be just what we expect. At the same time, we can never fully understand the power of God's love that awaits us in O God of love and new life, inspire us as we step into what is not yet. Amen. |
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