2 Meditations from CBO 2008

So, these two meditations were originally published in the 2008 Meditation Journal, based on the theme Visions of the Father taken from John 14:7.

Reflections of Love

Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”  John 14:6,7

Is it me or has Noah's ark become a cute way to decorate the rooms of children?  Noah has become a little chubby guy with a nice grey beard and there seem to be about 10 or so animals on board.  It has a nice tan border with puffy white clouds and a bright shiny sun.  It is a very happy and serene scene.

A couple years ago I was in London.  I went to London's longest running play, The Mousetrap, a murder mystery by Agatha Christie.  I went to museums, the Tower of London, and to Stonehenge, all magnificent experiences.  One day, I ended up at the Tate Britain Art Museum and there I encountered a very different Noah's Ark Scene.  The artist was Francis Dabny and his painting was titled The Deluge.  Noah's Ark was in the background, but in the foreground the sky is dark, the lightning threatening, and a group of people flee from a wall of water,.  I wonder how many people would put that scene in their house, let alone a small child's room.

I say this to say the following, it is possible to look at the first half of the Bible, and see a harsh God, who is bent on punishing people for every mistake. But in the light of Jesus we see a very different God, we see a God of love and compassion, of grace and truth.  If we had understood God to begin with, we may never have needed a savior. But we did not understand and so we needed Jesus to come down to us and show us how God really is.

+ Do you think of God in terms of laws or love?

+ Think of a time when you saw something in one light, but then learned that it was different, how did it make you feel? How did it change you?


+ As you pray this month, ask God for more truth and understanding.

Mimicking Christ

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10b NIV

My father died when I was 5 years old.  It was a loss that I failed to comprehend at the time.  I missed him, but I didn't really know all the ways that his death would change things until later.  When I was a little older, I would see boys learning things from their fathers and being taught the little things that little boys can only learn from a father or a father figure.  Those were the times when I really understood what I had lost.

As I grew, however, my mom and grandma would occasionally say things like, “You remind me of your father when you do that,” or, “That is just like what Bob used to do when he was your age.”  One day, after I hadn't seen my grandma for a number of years, I showed up unexpectedly at her door.  A couple of months later, when I again visited (this time with my mom), my grandma said that she had known it was me the time before because I looked like my dad.

Those are the moments in which I most feel like my father's son.  In those moments, I reconnect with both my loss and the possibility of what could have been.  But it also brings me a bit of joy to know that my presence reminds people of the one I wish I was like.  What if the same thing could be said of all of us in relation to Jesus?  What if, when people encountered us, they realized that they were encountering him?

Only when we are connected to Jesus—when our branch is connected to the Vine, and when we grieve over his death and glory over his life—can we be reminiscent of the One who paid the price so that we could live and live to the fullest.

+ In what ways do your mirror your parents?

+ Do you mirror Jesus in similar ways?

+ Think back to a time in which someone noticed Jesus in you.  What were you doing?  How did it make you feel to be a mirror of Jesus?

Peace and Love,

Pastor K