We know enough of our history by now to be aware that people exploit what they merely concluded to be of value, but they defend what they love.
The music of life is subtle and elusive and like no other--not a song with words but a song without words, a singing, clattering music to gladden the heart or turn the heart to stone, to haunt you perhaps with echoes of a vaster, farther music of which it is part...We cannot live our lives constantly looking back, listening back, lest we be turned to pillars of longing and regret, but to live without listening at all is to live deaf to the fullness of the music. Sometimes we avoid listening for fear of what we may hear, sometimes for fear that we may hear nothing at all but the empty rattle of our own feet on the pavement.
Love is not the opposite of wrath. As difficult as it may be to conceive, the wrath of God is an expression of his love and deep attachment to his people. Already in the third century, the theologian Lactantius wrote that "he who does not get angry does not care." If God can look at the sin and injustice in this world and not get angry, he is not much of a God! The God of the Bible is not some unmovable unfeeling force, but a God who cares.
Order of Worship, October 24 2010
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