Friday, March 25, 2022
We are more different than sticks in a pile of wood,
No Matter What we look like, inside or out,
God promises to respond to each of us with generosity.
Psalm 91:15
When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honour them.
Romans 10:12
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.
Words of Grace For Today
The number of not connected or dropped 911 calls increased dramatically during Covid restrictions, as people faced emergencies like never before, both in the kind of emergencies and in the quantity. For so many people who have come to count on help being just a phone call aways, dialling 911 and not getting any help (on top of the emergency their were facing) at all must have felt like their world was coming apart at the seams.
911 does connect us to a whole raft of services designed to help us given a whole raft of kinds of emergencies, at the best of the worst of times (could we put it that way?)
Heart Attack, Stroke, or Seizure? Call 911.
Fire? Call 911
Robbery in progress, vehicle accident, or burned supper? Call 911 (oopps, maybe call takeout for to deal with the burned supper – if you have the money!)
Cat stuck in the tree? …
You get the idea? Probably.
And normally someone answers, the call is recorded and transferred to the appropriate service (police, fire, or ambulance), who answers and dispatches someone to help you survive your emergency until life returns to ‘normal’, whatever that really is.
But when no one answers your call?
Lots of people through life have no 911 or 999 to call. No Police they trust to help. No fire department. No ambulance service. And if they have to pay for these services, there simply is no reason to make the call.
Whether we are used to a 911/999 service or not, for the real terrible emergencies in life we need to deal with it some other way. Some people think they are tough or that God does not exist and will try to muddle through on their own.
The large majority of humans through history, especially in emergencies, have called on God.
What if God simply were to break down like the 911 service during Covid? What would that be like? Even for the most faithful, when we call on God, God seldom answers in the expected manner.
God surprises us again and again with God’s power … power of self-sacrificial love and Graces, instead of tromping on the normality of the universe that God created and said it was good, thank you very much!
That’s why we need to hear again and again, each day is not too often, how God always hears and responds to those who call on God’s name for help. We need to hear that when the real shtako hits the fan God is there with us, God honours us, and God saves us. It simply is not the case that God only hears and responds to some people, to those with this language or this piety, or with this outlook on life. God hears and responds to all kinds of humans. God responds with generosity.
That’s a promise.
That’s a promise that is more sure than anything else in all creation, for God makes it to us, each of us, and to all of us.
That’s a promise that will fill the empty void in each and any life.
That’s a promise that we need to hear again and again.