10 December 2020
Good Day to you!
In my studies this week, I have been coming across many discussions regarding the “why” God needed to come into the world to be Immanuel, God with us (Isaiah 7:13-14, Matthew 1:22-23). Theologically, this can lead into very deep study, and certainly, as in all things that God does, He has a reason. This week’s Advent theme is “Love” and so my morning reflections had my mind travelling down the path of the “whys” in the context of how it represents “love.” This week’s morning beverage comes again from the richness of an Aldi Gingerbread brew and as I looked into the woods while I enjoyed it, the following thoughts came to mind.
Earlier this week, a lone doe had wandered into our back yard while our dog Annie was outside. As our brave protector felt the need to ward off the trespass of this beautiful creature, she actually startled the doe, causing it to try to retreat into the park behind our home. The challenge came for this magnificent beast when she became caught in some old fencing that separates our community from the desired path for her escape. This has happened before. After watching the deer struggle for a few seconds and realizing her plight, I grabbed a set of trusty wire cutting pliers from the garage, and headed out in my jammies, bathrobe and slippers. The closer I got to the deer, the more panicked she became, even though I was telling her in the softest of tones, that “it’s alright girl, I’m only going to help you.” I felt a tremendous pity for this animal and all I really wanted to do was to free it from its predicament. Thankfully for the both of us, something in the deer calmed as we gazed at each other, only a foot or two separating our breath. It only took a couple of cuts from my pliers to release the deer from its entrapment and once it realized it was free- its instinct took over and it frantically took off into the park to wherever its next destination was.
As I reflected on that, I felt a slight remorse that although I only wanted to help this wonderful animal, its response was only putting it into a more tangled and helpless plight. If it would only listen to me and understand me as I attempted to comfort it in my pleadings that I was only trying to rescue it, the process would have been far less stressful for her. But, I am human and this deer was not. I came to the conclusion that the only way that this deer, or even the next one who I may need to free from the fence, would understand my intentions, would be if I were to have the ability to communicate with it, as a deer myself. Although I was well aware of my intent, the beast would never be able to relate to my attempts to help.
A refill of my coffee as our home began to stir for the start of another day, had me thinking that maybe this is part of the reason that God needed to come into our world as a human being. Maybe this is why He needed to come into our world just like we do, facing the same situations, the same challenges, the same hopes, fears, and joys. By living our life, yet remaining perfect in His posture as God, he could relate to us in a manner that we would understand, speaking in our own language with gestures and emotion that we can relate to. Being Immanuel, God with us, he could relate to us in a way to give us hope, and peace- yet remaining in a position to cut the fence, not being restricted to its binding grasp. What I did for the deer, I did at the sacrifice of my neighbors having to see me out there in the woods wrangling with a deer in my bathrobe and slippers imagining the folly they were enjoying at my trying to communicate with a deer and wrestle with an old rusted fence. But when God sent His son into our world, He did it because of a deep seated love for us and was willing to sacrifice His life. And, as I drifted away from this morning’s time of reflection, I had a better sense of God’s love for us. Love!
Now, onto the events for this week! We are, as of the time of this writing, continuing with the opportunity for in-person worship for those that would choose to do so. We will have children’s Sunday School during the 9AM and 10AM worship hours. I remind you that if you would like to worship as a part of your small group, or Sunday School class, you may do so in rooms 204, 206, and/or the Fellowship Hall where our worship and Sunday School programming is live streamed on large screen televisions. And, as everyone is now well aware, we will be following the safety protocols that are in place for basically all events or locations that you may go. A reminder is that any symptoms of cold, cough, fever (even mild) need to be taken seriously and we trust you to choose virtual worship from home until your symptoms no longer exist.
We have some great things that will be happening next week at the church from an operational improvement standpoint. Beginning on Monday, Telecom Business Solutions, Inc. will begin installing a new Wi-Fi network which will improve our overall internet capabilities in the church. Our current system has served us well, but is beginning to fail as it can no longer keep up with our technology requirements. In addition, a few components of our sound system in the sanctuary are beginning to fail. Thankfully, the failures have been identified during the week and work-arounds have been put in place to keep us functional for our Sunday services and live streams. So, we will be replacing and upgrading part of our system that is known as the “Power Sequencing System.” Although these two improvements in our church technology platforms are not inexpensive, they are kind of like the tires on your car. There comes a time every few years where they simply do not do what they are supposed to do anymore, and they need to be replaced- or in other terms, we are simply doing much needed maintenance. We are only able to do these things because of your continued generosity of your gifts to Yorkshire Church, of which I am greatly appreciative of. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!
Have a great and blessed day, enjoying the love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
– pastor dave.
dkominsky@susumc.org
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