Right There

 Whether we like to admit it or not, and we usually don’t, we all need to be rescued. Some of us need to be rescued from financial problems, from toxic relationships, from soul-killing jobs, from our worst selves, from mental or physical health issues, from our destructive habits and addictions, from pride, self-sufficiency and anger, from our denial of needing a rescue, and from our sins, guilt and pasts.

Likewise, whether we like to admit it, we spend a significant amount of time and energy hoping that rescue comes – in the form we would have it. Case in point, how many of us spent money and time dreaming of what we were going to do with the $640 million we were going to win last week? Many of us believed that winning would be the rescue of all rescues – all the other problems would go away.

If you can believe it, it’s the same idea or motivation that drew all those people to shout “Hosannas” wave palms and throw their cloaks (Mark 11:1-11) before a relatively unknown guy riding on a donkey. They believed he was the promised answer to their problems – Roman and economic oppression, spiritual disconnection from God, restoration of their kingdom. As we know today, those “Hosannas” turned to curses laster that week. What happened?

Well, then and today, God did come to rescue; it’s just that it often doesn’t come in the way we expect or are ready for or even desire. You see Jesus came into Jerusalem that day in peace. And in Mark’s Gospel, after the “parade” it says he went into the temple and looked around – his temple – think about it – the dwelling place for God and God in the flesh together. He had come in peace – to restore and reconcile God and God’s people to relationship. But the people were hoping for a warrior king who was going to lead a revolution and kick out the Romans. Thus the “Hosannas” turning to “Crucify Him!” He wasn’t the rescue or answer they wanted.

But he was the rescue God sent and the rescue they actually needed whether they knew it not. God knew then and still knows today that what we really need first is a spiritual rescue. First of course from our sins but if we trace and analyze the roots of all our other challenges and issues – the roots are spiritual. So in Jesus’ time, when the people were thinking that the answer to all their problems – their rescue needed to be an overthrow of Roman oppression – God sends the Prince of Peace – His peace to them. Because an overthrow of sin and pride and despair would be far more liberating and life-giving than Rome being evicted from Palestine.

And so today, there is no strategy, no plan, no system, not even steps that compare with the rescue God has provided – Jesus. Then and today, Jesus is the rescue and the answer. He himself is the rescue and peace – embracing Him. All the things we look to for a rescue – Megamillions, relationships, another drink, popularity, new jobs, new church, new city – all the things we think we make it all go away – will not get to the root.

Listen, it’s because the point is not to be richer or more successful or more loved as a way to achieve peace – God’s point all along with us is that our relationship with Him through Jesus is the starting point and source of our joy, grace, and peace, then all the other things will be added. It’s not about solving all our problems with cash and mantras – it’s so that we can see and endure anything that happens in our lives and still say or sing, “It is well with my soul (because I am His and He is mine).” When you and I can more and more genuinely say and believe that no matter what the circumstance – that’s abundant life, that’s living rescued and forgiven, that’s faith, that’s the peace beyond understanding.

Maybe you’ve been praying for a rescue or an answer for a long time. And you feel like it’s never come. Maybe you’ve been faithful in waiting for it – “it” as you hoped it would be. But you’re still waiting, still hoping. That’s a good thing. It’s a very good thing to recognize the need to be rescued and that God could be or is the one to turn to. And about that rescue or answer seeming delayed…

Maybe it’s because the rescue you needed, was right there all along, right in front of you…

Amen.

Rev. Christopher B. Wolf

Isaiah 42:7

cbrianwolf@gmail.com

www.christopherbwolf.com

Christopher B. Wolf is pastor of First Reformed Church of Saddle Brook and is the author of Giving Faith a Second Chance: Restarts, Mulligans and Do-Overs (2007) and With You Every Step of the Way; and the host of Walk With Me, Wednesdays 8 pm on WYFN 94.9 FM-NY and on www.yfnradio.com.

“It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain and puzzlement of the world so that the crucified love of God in Christ may be brought to bear healingly upon the world at exactly that point.

 N.T. Wright

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Turning Point

Turning Point

O Lord!

When someone lets go of decades of pain and suffering and begins to move toward wholeness –

We turn to you and give thanks that healing is possible through you.

When our young people, despite our best efforts, lose their way and find themselves in all kinds of prisons –

We turn to you for the keys and the strength to believe in tomorrow.

When our young people are faced with temptations at school, on the Internet – virtually everywhere they go –

We turn to you and remember that they are your children first.

When marriages reach the point where it seems like there is no hope –

We turn to you for patience and strength.

When marriages overcome obstacles of infidelity, neglect and the interference of others –

We turn to you and praise you for your faithfulness and grace.

When we become so tired and exhausted that we feel like we can’t go on –

We turn to you for strength and endurance.

When people become so isolated that they barely exist –

We turn to you and thank you for seeing us when we are invisible.

When people come out from years of hiding in the shadows –

We turn to you and thank you for your persistence and steadfast love.

When we see that our sins have caused immeasurable damage throughout our lives –

We turn to you for second, third, fourth (and so on) chances; and know we have them in Jesus.

When we feel like we are unworthy and no longer acceptable to you –

We turn to you and feel the embrace of your grace and unconditional love in Christ.

When this whole world seems to be on the brink of falling apart –

We turn to you with whatever we have left.

When we see things falling apart and new things emerging like people coming together like never before –

We turn to you and praise you for being a God that restores and renews.

When our brothers, sisters and friends are diagnosed with terrible diseases –

We turn to you and cry out “Why?!”

When our ill brothers, sisters and friends are strengthened and sometimes even cured –

We turn to you and thank you for your mercy and providence.

When we have tried everything and it still doesn’t work –

We turn to you and throw our hands up in the air.

When other voices discourage and bring us down –

We turn to you to hear the voice of truth.

When we are disoriented and feel lost –

We turn to you to be directed and found.

When we have surrendered all of our hopes and dreams to you –

We turn to you and watch them materialize in ways we never expected.

When we see our nation drowning in violence, idols, self-indulgence and greed –

We turn to you for the life preserver of peace and satisfaction.

When we see our nation rich with compassion, abundance and hope –

We turn to you and thank you for the gift of being here.

When our loved ones die and we can’t hear their voice anymore –

We turn to you and say, “We wanted just one more time…”

When we leave this earth and enter in your presence –

We will turn to you and our loved ones and smile at that glorious reunion.

We turn to you in all of these days and times and remember your words and promises –

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Discussion Questions

1. What can make the difference in how we view what is happening in our world?
2. How can we keep in mind that God is in control despite what it may look like?
3. What can we do about evil in this world? What is our response?
4. From where does our help and hope come? How can we keep that in mind during times like this?

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