Name Recognition

Reflections
April 12, 2009

God is at work in our world. In ways and at times we are yet unaware. G.K. Chesterton wrote of this in a personal way. "There was a man who dwelt in the East centuries ago. And now I cannot look at a sheep or sparrow, a lily or a cornfield, a raven or a sunset, a vineyard or a mountain, without thinking of Him." The Him, of course, is Jesus.

Chesterton's intent wasn't geographic or biological, but rather to illustrate how Jesus took the common and placed it in the uncommon. Jesus used everyday elements, and common occurrences, to demonstrate God's love and our response. When Jesus said as God knows the grains of sand and each hair on our head, the focus was on relatiopnship, not hair or sand. When He suggested one consider the mustard seed as a model of faith, the oint wasn't to diagram the spiritual life of a plant, but to show great things have small beginnings. Jesus' use of everyday elements affirms a belief that God is a creative and renewing source.

The redemptive and renewing power of God can be heard in the song, Hymn of Promise written by Natalie Sleeth. "In the bulb there is a flower, in the seed, an apple tree; in cocoons, a hidden promise, butterflies will soon be free! In the cold and snow of winter there's a spring that waits to be, unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see."

For the Christian tradition the most significant symbol of renewal is found at Easter. The Cross, a tool of death, becomes a signature of hope. The Tomb, a point of closure, becomes an opening to new life. The Disciples, scattered by denial, fear, and their own sense of loss, are given over to the power of grace transforming and strengthening them.

At Easter, if we dare take notice, the unrevealed is made known in the person of Jesus. In life, in death, in life beyond death, Christ tells us that the final word belongs to God. It is a word of renewal over destruction, love over hate, hope over fear, and grace over judgment.

Dr. Joey K. McDonald
First United Methodist Church
4832 Tujunga Avenue, North Hollywood, CA 91601