There was a popular TV show back in the early 90’s called ‘Evening Shade’. Burt Reynolds played a football coach in small town Arkansas, but the stories were mainly about his daily personal life with his wife and kids. One night his two school-aged children were ready for bed. The little boy said, “Do you ever feel lonely and scared?” His sister replied, “Well, sometimes; but then I remember what they say in Sunday School, about how God is always with us and I feel better.” The boy thought a few minutes—then he said, “Yeah, well that praying stuff is all right I guess; but sometimes you just need somebody with skin on them.”
In his book ‘God is Closer Than You Think’, Presbyterian pastor John Ortberg makes the case that the central promise of the Bible is not “I will forgive you”, and it is not the promise of life after death, though both are powerfully offered. The most frequent promise (usually in the context of lonely or afraid) is “I will be with you”! The name Emmanuel (God with Us) is more than a nice name for sweet baby Jesus, but is the reality of God “with skin on”—the Incarnation! In this we can experience God’s saving grace, God’s tender mercies, God’s healing love. And so even in the midst of an Advent with restrictions due to Covid, draw as close as you can, using all the means you can, as often as you can to remind the lonely and scared that Emmanuel has come, and is still with us!
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February 2021
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Starkville Presbyterian Church PC(USA) Starkville, MS | Ron's Reflections |