DAY 16

Making a Way

I remember a conversation I had with my nephew in which he said something along the lines of …’it’s alright all this stuff about God’s love, but we don’t hear about the other side, about evil or the bad things.’

In the nativity even as we hear the heavenly chorus singing the good news to the shepherds, there’s already a long shadow forming in the fearful and suspicious mind of a King called Herod, which will cause enormous suffering and grief because of this ‘Good News’. And we know that this little baby ‘sleeping on the hay’ in a stable in Bethlehem, will one day be sentenced to death only a few miles away in Jerusalem.

We need to find the space to talk about evil at the same time as we talk about God’s love. As we celebrate Christ’s coming into our humanity, we are also putting our hope in His way through evil, and we believe through death into resurrection and His promise of His coming Kingdom.

The bible says, ‘I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.’

What image does a heart of stone conjure up in your mind? I picture a heavy, hard, cold, lifeless thing. When we think of the actions of cruelty in our world today, it feels like people have hearts of stone.  

I believe Jesus has made a way. He suffered cruelly and it helps me to believe in his authenticity, in his message of God’s love. He has experienced our lives. It also helps me to not be overwhelmed by despair when confronted by how short and cruel life can be, for Jesus speaks of an eternal home, beyond death; a place of love, of peace. He also speaks of repentance and turning around, away from evil.

”I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”- Ezekiel 36:26
 
Prayer
Lord of Heaven, welcome into your eternity
those who have died to this life
Comfort those who mourn them
and reach into their pain with your love.
Amen.