Sunday, December 7, 2003
Sunday, December 7, 2003
"And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
(Matthew
28.20
NRSV)
Stephen Brown tells a beautiful story about a young couple that gets to the heart of this good news: "She was eighteen and he was nineteen when they met. They fell in love, and one year later they were married. Some six years and three children later, she decided while standing before the kitchen sink with a pile of dirty dishes and with a pile of dirty diapers on the floor, that she just couldn't stand it any more. She took off her apron and just walked out the door. Sometimes she would call home to check on the children, and on those occasions he would tell her how much he loved her, and he would ask her to come home. Each time she refused.
"After a number of days, he hired a private detective to
find his wife. The report said she was living in a second-class
hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. He packed his bags, placed the
children under the care of a neighbor, and took a bus to Des
Moines. He found the hotel and made his way to her room. When he
knocked on the door, his hand trembled because he didn't know the
kind of reception he would receive. His wife opened the door,
stood for a moment looking at him in shocked silence, and then
fell apart in his arms.
God so loved the world. He came. Someone you know is
living a life of what the poet called "quiet desperation."
Sometimes it feels as if you can't hold on much longer. You need
to know God hasn't forsaken you.
Loving God, help me to feel your presence today. Amen.
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