we are one

When we moved to San Antonio 15 years ago, the heavens opened. Ten inches of rain fell on a single day in October of that year, creating a massive wall of water that worked it's way from the edge of the Texas hill country, across the coastal plain, and into the Gulf of Mexico. Cities and towns in its path were submerged; destruction was rampant.

Here we are now in Calgary, beginning a new chapter in our lives and ministry, and again the heavens have opened. Heavy rain in the Rockies has swelled the creeks and rivers from Banff eastward. Downtown Calgary is submerged; the Bow River has been described as an ocean; there is massive flooding over much of Central and Southern Alberta. Time will tell the story of loss and damage.

At times like these, and in amazing personal coincidences like ours, people often turn to the clergy for meaning. People want to know why things happen and why they happen to the way they happen. Much of the time, I give the only answer I have: I don't know.

I don't know why sometimes it floods and sometimes it doesn't. I don't know why people suffer. I don't know why bad things happen to good people, or why good things happen to bad people.

I think that's just how life is. But I, along with my clergy colleagues do have meaning to offer when the world seems to be falling apart. I can offer meaning and assurance that we are cared for in this life and that we are not alone.

For I know that God is the source of life and love.
I know that Jesus has promised to be with us always, whether it's flooding or not, whether it's sunny or not, whether we're good or not, whether we are in San Antonio, Calgary, or anywhere else.

I also know God gives us good gifts in the midst of whatever life brings. We certainly have seen that this week in Calgary. One estimate says up to 100,000 people were displaced from their homes; emergency shelters are reporting a population less than 2000. Why? Friends, family, neighbors, and strangers have opened their homes to the evacuees. Rescue and emergency workers worked 18 - 20 hour shifts to ensure the safety of Calgary's citizens. As of this morning's report, there were no reported injuries of any kind.

It may rain and flood and devastate, but destruction does not have the final word. Goodness wins. Compassion wins. Companionship wins. Love wins.

Out of Calgary this week, you will no doubt hear devastating news. But if you listen and watch closely, you will see humanity come together as one for comfort, shelter, support, restoration, companionship, wholeness.  We covet your prayers, well wishes, and support of all kinds as we journey through these days. We ask for them wherever and whenever anyone is suffering, no matter the circumstances; but perhaps especially in the circumstances that are without media coverage.

Remember that God is good and that we are one.

song above all songs

The Songs of Songs, by almost all accounts, is a strange piece of literature to include in the Bible. There is no mention of God by name anywhere.  And this text, a bit of poetry sung from a bride to her bridegroom was rather racy for its time. So much so that the Interpreter's Bible reports that Jewish doctors use to recommend that their young patients not read it at all until age 30.

So why include it? Scholars say it was undisputedly included in the Hebrew canon and wholeheartedly adapted for Christian use because it works on the level of allegory, meaning everything stands for something else.  The bridegroom, flawless and sickeningly perfect, represents God (Jesus for Christians) and the bride, the body of faithful believers.

The Song of Songs helps a people image how God comes, redeeming everything that has gone wrong in the "winter" of life.  No matter how bad it gets or how much it has rained, there's nothing like the dawn of a new spring morning to revive hope.

And I believe there's more.

Unlike our own experiences of human love, that impregnable perfection we see in our new love interest never fades. And it's not our image of God that remains untarnished as the years pass, but God's image of us.

No matter how old we get, how many mistakes we make, nor how big they are; no matter how much we are disappointed in ourselves or our abilities, God always stands at the ready, speaking to us the way a young groom speaks to his bride. We are more lovely and ever the object of God's affection. God desires to stay with us, not only on the night we first meet, but all of our nights and all of our days as well.

God desires to partner with us and create a new kind of love, one that recreates the world in a way that could never be created if one of the parties were missing. We could never be more lovely to God than in the moments we say "Yes!" again and again to this God who loves above all others. Want more? Click here to read Song of Songs 2:8-13.