return

mark 13:32-37

when i return

what condition

will my house be in

will you be

running around

picking clothes

up off the floor

quickly trying

to do the dishes

or fix the broken

shutters

frantically stuffing things

into closets

and underneath

the beds

or will you be ready

for my return

because all along

you lived as if 

today were the day

bridegroom

     matt. 25:6

will you be ready

when i come to you

today

for i am always

coming

will you have oil

for you lamp

will you be awake

and alert

will you come

out to meet me

or will you be

so consumed

by your own

issues and agendas

that you miss me

completely

light

you come

into our darkness

and we are finally

able to see

you illumine

and you uncover

you reveal

and you expose

by you we see

all that is beautiful

and all that is terrible

and we are invited

to become like you

coming

God has come.

God is continually coming.

God will come again.

This is the beauty of Advent.

Rejoice!

ready

stay on your toes

sit on the edge of your seat

keep your lamp burning

keep an eye on the horizon

keep your ears open

for the knock at the door

live in a state

of perpetual readiness

for advent has begun

rooted and established in love

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:17-18)

Rooted and established in love?  I have my moments, I suppose.  One minute I am able to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is his great love for me, and the next I lose track of it altogether, becoming just as convinced that I am totally and completely unlovable.  One minute I’m living my life so that I will be loved, and the next I’m living it because I already am.  It can be a bit of rollercoaster at times.

It all comes back to identity.  As long as I live as if my worth and value are up to me, I am in for a hell of a ride.  But when I can finally become convinced that my worth and value are set in stone by the unfailing love of God, it creates a rootedness.  My life becomes more durable and less at the mercy of mood and whim and circumstance.

Oh to be convinced of your great love for us.  Oh to grasp its heights and depths and breadth.  Oh to live a life that is rooted and established in that love.  That’s the life I truly long to live.  Help me, O Lord, to believe that it’s possible.

Thank you, O Lord, for your great love.  Thank you that it is wider and longer and higher and deeper than I could ever imagine.  Help me to sink my roots deep down into that unfailing love and care this day, so that I will not be moved by mood or whim or circumstance, but moved only by the power of your great affection.  Amen.

knowing his love

“And to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” (Ephesians 3:19)  

How is it possible to know a love that surpasses knowledge?  That is unless this type of knowing is different from the knowing we usually talk about.  Maybe the kind of knowing Paul is praying for goes far beyond mere cognition.  Maybe the kind of knowing he is talking about cannot be done with the head, but only with the heart.  Maybe it is the kind of knowing Moses wrote about when he said, “Adam knew Eve, and she conceived a son.” (Genesis 4:1) It is the most intimate kind of knowing possible.  It is like the silent embrace of two lovers.  It is a type of knowing that says, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is more delightful than wine.” (Song of Songs 1:2) It is a knowing that can only be described by the intimacy and passion and union of husband and wife.  Maybe that’s the kind of knowing that surpasses knowledge.  Maybe that’s the kind of knowing that God wants for each of us—intimate union.  Maybe what God really wants is not merely for us to “know” he loves us, but for us to be seized by the power of his great affection.  Maybe he wants us to be so captured by the passionate torrent of his love that it changes everything about us.  Maybe this kind of knowing leads to an ecstasy that is beyond explanation.  If that’s the case, then you can sign me up!

O Lord, I want to know the love that surpasses knowledge.  Because I have a feeling that when I finally do know that love, it will turn me into a totally different person.  It will fill me so full of you that I simply won’t be able to contain myself, but will overflow with your life and your love onto everyone who crosses my path.  That’s the life I want, O God.  That’s the love I want.  Thank you that that’s the kind of life and love you want for me.  Amen.