About midway through the service, a young couple stepped forward for their baby daughter's baptism. It was very touching, and you could just see the joy welling up in them for the beauty of the moment and for the love of their child.
As happens at many churches, there was a small commemorative candle to light for the family - symbolizing the Light of Christ. I smiled, because there is usually a very, very tall candle kept lit in the church Sanctuary for this very purpose. An attendant will reach up with the small candle, light it, and hand it back to the family...passing on the Light of Christ.
But sometimes this main Sanctuary candle is so tall (when new), that a person has to stand on tippy toes to reach it. I've actually seen this part of the service paused while the pastor looks around for somebody tall enough to reach up. At another church they actually had a small stool nearby, just to avoid accidents.
Anyway, I was smiling in anticipation...having sized up the altar boy as not tall enough to make it.
But then the young assistant did something I'd never seen anyone else do...he lifted the big candle out of it's huge brass base, and simply tipped it down to the height of the baby's father, who easily lit the candle. No problem!
Psalm 113 says:
"Who is like the Lord our God, the One enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash."
How many times have I stood on tippy toes struggling to grasp for God...when in reality, He has stooped down to close the gap? The very essence of Christ coming to earth is that God has reached out to us, and become accessible in a personal way.
It doesn't have to be hard. It's not supposed to be hard. God has bridged the chasm. We just have to touch the Light.
What do you believe?
2 comments:
I like this post. It was great because you quoted a verse that stuck out in my quiet time this morning. "Who is like the Lord our God, the One enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?" Psalm 113. I just happened to be thinking of this for a little different reason. I had a friend at a previous job that when I first met him, was an atheist. After long conversations, and (work on God's part mostly) he decided that there had to be a God, but that we can't know Him because we are too insignificant in this vast universe. But this verse states the truth, that God stooped down to us. I love it.
Great insight, thanks Randy!
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