The snow falls quietly outside. It blows and swirls,
making the line in that song relevant just 3 days
from March. You know the one, “Oh the weather
outside is frightful…”
We’re under a winter advisory for another 30
minutes.
The good news, we are within 30 days until the first
day of spring.
There are probably many of us who are tired of the
snow. In comparison to our friends out East, we have
had a pretty mild winter. A total of 12 inches or so
over a season is a little easier to deal with than
12 inches or so every week for the last month.
That is a little dramatic, but you get the point.
Before you know it the sun will be shining across my
old Illinois home, buds will be budding on the
trees, and kids will be kidding around outside in
short sleeves and shorts. Soon, the world will be
green again and it’ll look like paradise.
However, I was told paradise is a word we must be
careful using. (use carefully?) This piece of advice
came again via a Christian tract. This time the card
consisted of two lawn chairs sitting next to a palm
tree, on a sandy beach, looking out over the ocean,
a perfect juxtaposition to the weather we are
currently experiencing here in Illinois.
On the backside of a card is the explanation of why
this world is not paradise. That if you believe a
peaceful existence is possible then you have
believed the lies this world has to offer.
Furthermore, paradise is where God dwells. And that
dwelling place, is not here. Rather, it is up there,
somewhere. And the only way to get there is if you
ask Jesus into your heart and repent. If not, don’t
expect sunny skies where you’ll go. You’ll be
enduring an eternity of living in Death Valley…
Before sounding too pejorative, or judgmental, there
is a need to repent, to believe in the good news
that God loves us, and to further the incarnation
with our lives. I’m not denying this. However, to
declare this world is not a place of paradise is
ludicrous.
Anyone who has ever resisted or mourned the
destruction of the earth or the demise of one of its
living species
or has wondered at the beauty of a sunrise,
or the awesome power of a storm,
or the vastness of prairie or mountain or ocean,
or the greening of the earth after periods of
dryness or cold,
or the fruitfulness of a harvest,
or the unique ways of wild or domesticated animals,
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or any of the other myriad phenomena of this planet and its skies
has potentially brushed up against an experience of the creative
power of the mystery of God, Creator Spirit. As the Bible’s love
songs show, the love of God for the world is revealed through the
depths of love human beings can feel for one another.
What does this have to do with paradise? It speaks
to God’s continued creation in our lives. To believe paradise is
some far off place is to deny the very real presence of God here and
now. God is not a god who set into motion the world, destined it for
corruption, and then leaves, only to return just in time for some
people and not others. Creation is not a one-time event. Rather,
God’s creative activity involves a continuous energizing, an ongoing
sustaining of the world throughout the broad sweep of history.
God is the giver of life and the lover of life, pervading the cosmos
and all of its interrelated creatures with life. If God were to
withdraw God’s divine presence everything would go back to nothing.
And that nothing is a far cry from
paradise.
The last sentence of the card encourages its readers not to “live in
a fool’s paradise thinking this life is all there is. God is
inviting you to the ‘real’ paradise through faith in Jesus Christ.”
Honestly, while we have hope in the resurrection, what we have is
now and this now is a gift. What is so compelling about God’s love
and God’s goodness is that God has promised to remain with us as we
return to God’s original vision of earth—paradise. Perhaps we would
actually come to know what paradise has to offer if we believed in
the goodness of all people, committed to the uplifting of one
another, and made sure care was taken of all.
If God can make dry bones walk, why can’t God use us to usher in
paradise?
God loves us and this love God has for us creates goodness, making
the entire world and us lovable.
That sounds like a place I could call paradise…even when it does
snow.
[Adam Quine, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Lincoln] |
