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Here is God’s rescue mission, his constant valentine, his love letter to you and to all of humanity. It is a love which cannot stay away from us, from you, a love which is not put off by the darkness which stalks around us or the darkness we sometimes cast onto others. Love like this is fierce and pure and unquenchable. It is not discouraged. It is not downcast. It is not defeated. And it will not abandon us ever, no matter the mess we make, no matter the pain and the grief and the fear we feel, no matter the pressure we are living under and the uncertainty. A love like that does not stop being love ever. It is like a falcon fixed on its prey, like lightning seeking the earth, like a mother reunited with her child after long weeks apart, like a Shepherd seeking a lost sheep in the featureless desert.
At Christmas Jesus comes to the rescue. And kneeling by the manger we begin to realise that our world is changed utterly and for ever. Not alone. Not lost. Not forgotten. Not in darkness. Rather, loved and precious, precious and rescued, rescued and safe, safe and known, known and loved, loved and precious.
We are called to live for an audience of one, to make God’s good opinion the one we value above all others- and we already know what he thinks of each and every one of us because he comes to us at Christmas and places himself into our hands, into our world, into our hearts- loved and precious, precious and rescued, rescued and loved. |
