God Ever Present. Made in His Image

Sometimes I look around and feel a sense of despair when I consider what we humans have done to God’s creation. We only have to watch the many nature programmes on TV to understand the impact of industrialisation and humanities greed for stripping the earth of its natural riches. The book of Genesis tells us that when God had finished the creation it was good; alas it took humans to spoil it. However there is more than enough of the original creation left to allow one to look around with a sense of awe as one studies God’s creation. So as I look around and realise that God is in everything, which means also that everything is in God. Two weeks ago I was in the English Lake District for a short holiday, we had taken our dog who decided that at 5AM she needed the toilet, so as I was outside holding her lead I looked skywards; there, right there, was the wonder of God in creation. For with little background light the whole of the night sky was laid bare in front of my eyes, what a wondrous and breath-taking sight! Now we have not managed to mess that up yet.

It is true that we can also see God in other people, not just a few, but in all. Now that is a challenge, we often see faces on the news of murderers and others who have done great evil. How can God, and His beloved Son Jesus, be in there also? Well we are all created in God’s image; not a physical image, but the image of the spirit, that part of us that can think, love and make decisions. It is alas sometimes the terrible decisions that bring us down, but God does not control that part of us otherwise we would be just puppets to His will. He has given us the ability to make a choice, and becoming evil is a choice. I do believe that Christ is there for each of us, and loves each of us. But it is we that reject Jesus, and reject Him time and again; yet Jesus never gives up on us, and remains in each of us, until that time when we are prepared to accept God’s grace, and return that love.

The idea of ever present God is a challenge when things are difficult, I know, and how can an ever present God stand by and see so much pain and suffering? God suffers with us I am sure; He knew the pain of rejection and physical torture and death on a cross. He sees every day the pain we go through as we mourn the loss of those who have gone before. Can all of this be fixed by a wave of His wondrous hand? Well I am sure it could. But what would we become, would we think the same, act the same having never experienced ‘freedom’ from an ‘almighty power’? I do not think so, and so we labour on in this life finding our own way to understanding so that we may be prepared for our relationship with the one in whose image we were made.

Thomas Merton sums this up far better than I could ever do:
“There is not a flower that opens, not a seed that falls into the ground, and not an ear of wheat that nods on the end of its stalk in the wind that does not preach and proclaim the greatness and the mercy of God to the whole world.
There is not an act of kindness or generosity, not an act of sacrifice done, or a word of peace and gentleness spoken, not a child’s prayer uttered, that does not sing hymns to God before His throne, and in the eyes of men, and before their faces”. (Thomas Merton: The Seven Story Mountain)

Serving God means serving each other

How can we give ourselves to God’s service, fully, without thought for ourselves and our wants? How do we stand before God and say we were true servants, true in heart, always serving Him by serving each other? How can we be the people of God when injustice stares us in the face day by day?

In the west we have become very used to a certain life style, we have become used to comfort and as time passes we find that we are given more and more comfort for our money; and so as time goes by we expect more and more comfort. As a child I remember the metal window frames in my bedroom, they were wonderful in summer for they allowed in lots of fresh air even when the windows were closed. But in the winter, even with thick heavy curtains, the biting wind would find me under my bed covers. Today the vast majority have double glazing which keeps away draughts, of course now we are told we now need triple grazing which is environmentally friendly and saves us money, all a far cry from my council house bedroom.

This week Birmingham Train station, in the UK, has its grand opening, those that have been involved seemed so proud to speak about the £600 million pounds spent to upgrade the station, to make it a much more comfortable experience for its customers. In sport the Rugby world cup tickets are selling for over £500 to well in excess of £2,000. Also in sport we read that Chelsea football club in London are considering spending £100m on two footballers. Whilst writing this missive I had a quick look using Google at what the rich have been spending their money on well one young lady spent a staggering £1.3,m. ($2,m) collecting Birkin bags (by Hermes). She was had a Gold iPhone 24-Karat which cost £1,286.($2,200). Then I read about another celebrity couple who reportedly paid £493,000 ($767,000) on four gold-plated toilets; of course the couple are supposed to be worth between themselves in the region of $155 million.

Now I do not know if any of these fine people believe in God, or Christ, but if they do I would have to ask them how they manage to live the lives they do and balance this against the Gospel. Because to be gifted with such great wealth and to do so little with it is, well, it is such a great shame. I know that these people do do great things for charity, I am not ignorant of that fact at all, I would also argue that perhaps their money making brand is the fact they are who they are; and by raising money they can give more to charity. But let us never forget Christ said to the young man; to follow me you must sell everything. So such waste is perhaps more than we can bear in a world that suffers so much poverty.

But this brings me very much to this particular essays point, one I cannot, and must not sidestep. How can any of us avoid that which is taking place in the east of Western Europe. We are seeing not migrants; people who have chosen to leave their countries of birth for somewhere they feel may be better. Not better because it will give them greater wealth, they are not walking west to live the dream; they are walking west to escape the nightmare. We are witnessing something much more terrible, we are seeing refugees, people displaced through fear of death. What they want is safety. All they are asking for is safety, a roof, some food, clothing, and medical care. They are the person on the other side of the road, beaten and in distress.

How are we responding? With razor wire and new fences that say you are not welcome, you are not our problem, you do not matter, we do not care. Now if I know just one thing about the Goodnews of Christ is this; He cared, loved, and was always welcoming. We have no choice here, no choice, No choice!

We must act, our little island of Britain will never sink, and it will never become overcrowded like the small minded would have us think. If we care, then we must care!! We have no Choice. Those who are in the East are not them; they are us, we are the same, created by one God, saved by one God.

So now if our sisters and brothers from the east are lying beaten and in distress we have to decide who are we to be. Do we walk on by and say yes to the razor wire? Or, do we do as we were called to do and stop and give love and support; be the Samaritan.

I appeal to you be the Samaritan!

British Red Cross Appeal: http://www.redcross.org.uk/