There is a story about a little
girl who was crying in the night. When her mother came to comfort
her, the girl said she was too afraid of the dark to sleep. "But God's with
you, comforting and protecting you," the mother said. "But
I need someone with skin on," the little girl said.
Anne Lamott tells of Mattie in her novel, Blue
Shoe. Mattie
wants to be God with skin on, someone who would show up and listen,
bring you a glass of water if you were thirsty. (Homiletics,
January 2005, p. 13)
Christmas is about incarnation, about God coming in the flesh.
The name Immanuel means "God is with us." Sometimes
we hear of someone who had a narrow escape or some other act
of good fortune. Often such a story is accompanied with a saying
like, "God must have been watching out for you." While
this may or may not be true we must be careful not to imply that
when things go wrong God must then be absent or not concerned.
The world in which we live has much about it that is right
and beautiful because of people being willing to be the skin
of God. Our world presents endless opportunities for us to be
this skin of God. Like Mattie we need to be willing to show up
and listen. We need to bring a glass of water to those who are
thirsty.
We can do many things while helping God to be incarnate. We
can give to charity which enables others to be helped. We can
and should volunteer in at least one organization that is designed
to help others. We can, as the bumper sticker says, "Practice
random acts of kindness" or we can adopt a lifestyle where
kindness is not random but a normal way of acting.
Why should we do this? Before I answer this question allow
me to share the reasons found in the first 14 verses of Ephesians.
Think about the blessings we have received because of Christ
coming into the world. Listen to His teachings. Remember how
He willingly gave His life for us. Consider how Jesus asked God
to give us God's Spirit to guide, teach and comfort us
and to act as a mediator between ourselves and God. The Spirit
even prays for us when we are not able to put our thoughts, feelings
and desires into words.
God has adopted us. We sometimes do not understand the process.
We are like the prodigal son. When we leave home by disobeying
God we are in effect saying, "As far as I am concerned
God simply doesn't exist. I am not part of God's
family and God has no claim on me whatsoever." This is what happens
when we sin.
If and when we have a change of heart God is not obliged to
take us back because we have broken the covenant. God, in an
act of love, chooses to welcome us into the family home. Being
adopted is having someone, in this case God, intentionally declaring
their love and desire for relationship. God is willing to do
this for all who want to be part of the family.
We perhaps do not dwell on it enough or we have difficulty
accepting that it is true but God has forgiven our sin which
is not license for us to continue in it. According to Jeremiah
31:34, God has not only forgiven our sin but has also forgotten
it. It is as if it never took place. Our problem often is that
we cannot forget it. We continue to wonder if we really have
been fully made part of the family or do we have to live alone
on the outskirts. God forgives us because God wants us at the
family table for every meal. God forgives us so that we can be
free to be God's skin, to share God's love with others
as God shares it with us.
In Jesus God enables us to see how we are to live. For centuries
God's people attempted to live according to the letter
of the Law without understanding the Spirit behind it. Jesus
did not come to do away with the Law; He came to show us what
is meant by it. The Law is designed to help us see the importance
and value of every life and of every relationship including the
one we are to have with God which according to Jesus is the model
for how we are to relate with each other. We are to honor, respect,
enable and affirm each other working to insure that each one
receives justice and mercy.
Of course we have a long way to go with this and there are
far too many examples of where this is not being done. But this
does not make God's desire for us invalid. It means we
still have some learning to do. We still have to come to a place
of understanding and accepting the mystery of God's will
which has now been revealed by Jesus. We need to gain understanding
of what really is of value and stop putting so much emphasis
on things that only last for a short time. We need to have a
new understanding and acceptance of what is meant by power and
freedom. We need to adopt a whole new understanding of what is
meant by stewardship and of how we are to be managing God's
creation rather than thinking about our own portfolio.
God has promised to share with us everything God shares with
Jesus. This is almost too much for us to comprehend. Imagine
having life that lasts forever free of any need or pain. Imagine
being one with God. These are the key pieces of our promised
inheritance. Our present inheritance is that God is always with
us. Like the small child at the beginning of the sermon we want
this with skin on it.
This is where the question I asked much earlier gets answered.
Why should we be the skin of God for others? Look at all the
things God has done for us and has promised to do for us in the
future. Our response to this needs to be acceptance and gratitude.
We need to believe that God's coming into the world was
for our sakes. We need to accept this for what it is — pure
love. And we need to respond in kind by being the flesh of God
for others.
It may be a child crying in the night or it could be helping
with donations for the hundreds of thousands affected by last
week's earthquake and tidal waves. It could be sending
a soldier a letter or helping feed the hungry. It could be a
little love note or an invitation to share a cup of coffee. It
could be a gentle touch, a word of kindness or working to being
justice to those who live without it.
How you respond to the incarnation of God is up to you. Being
an incarnation yourself is what is needed.
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