A while back, a friend of mine and I were discussing these writings which I have been posting on this blog site for the last four years. I said that of all of them, and others not yet published, none of them got into deep discussions of theology, religions, denominations, or beliefs. I said they are all just about God and the different ways he is in our lives and, from time to time, Satan and his wiles and dangers. My friend’s response is the title, “Basic Is Basic.”
What he said about these writings is true. They are all simple, uncomplicated things having to do with God and his ultimate creation, us. They have to do with the wonders of God and how he fits into our lives. I think this one is the 90th posting and there are recurring themes from time to time. I see his purpose being that different approaches will touch or appeal to some people and make sense, while some others will reach out and make sense to someone else.
There are all of the simple facts of the story of creation. We all known what God did, it is simply written in his book. What we don’t know is how he accomplished it and how long it really took. God did not punch a time clock, since the keeping of time is our invention, nor did he cross off days on some spiritual calendar. He simply did what he did and in his own way and time.
When he was finished and had created that first pair, he probably sat back and looked at all he had done. Just think how disappointing and insulting it must have been to have that first pair, created in his spiritual image and likeness, turn their backs on him and violate the single rule he gave to them. I can just imagine that when he confronted them, they pointed at each other and said, “He/she made me do it!” and there is that other excuse, “The devil made me do it.”
Did you ever think how God must have felt at that time? He must have certainly loved them even so. Instead, he could have just erased the whole project and started over. Rather than that, he loved them and, as redemption for their sin and all of the sins by all of us since then and for all time to come, he sent his one and only son to come into this world in the same manner we do. In just a few days, we will celebrate his birthday. He came with a mission, a goal, to suffer terribly and die as a common criminal, nailed to a wooden cross and, in that way, redeem us and open heaven’s gates so we could spend all of eternity in his presence.
It all goes back to the basics, doesn’t it? While there are differences, large or small, in how we worship, the basic bottom line is we know who God is and worship him.
As you celebrate the whole liturgical year, take an active part in the pomp and celebration of the whole cycle. But, remember throughout the whole cycle, the basic bottom line: there is a God and he loves us far beyond our widest understanding of what that really means.
