God will bring you home............

"I will not leave you orphaned."  One of the most powerful words of reassurance Jesus spoke to his disciples in a long passage of reassurance.  They would need to remember these words because in a few days they would watch him die and believe that Jesus had done that very thing: left them orphaned.

But no, he says.  "I go to prepare a place for you........."  A place....for you!  You - the individual, and You - the whole people of God.  You are an individual before the face of God, named and claimed and through baptism made a part of God's great plan for YOU.  But this isn't a 'pick and choose, maybe you make it and maybe you don't' proposition.  The corporate YOU tells you that Jesus is about all humankind, the whole of creation, everyone.

We are out there, wandering around, wondering how to make it in this world and hoping, praying that the promises of God in Jesus are real.  We are out there, contending with the mundane and the evil, the furious and the compassionate, things major and things that numb the mind.  We are out there reminding ourselves that God's light is brighter than any darkness.  We remind ourselves that because we are loved by God in our most miserable and nasty selves, who are we to claim someone else cannot be loved by God? We are out there, clinging to the cross of Jesus, reminding ourselves that through that horrific suffering Jesus proved himself willing to go the distance to do one thing..........to bring us home.

Darkness descends on every life.  For some the darkness is deep and long.  For these our brothers and sisters whose lives are a constant challenge, we pray earnestly and support as we can.  In our own times of darkness we seek out other believers, to hear them tell their stories of a dawning light.  We seek out the psalms that carry exactly the right words to approach God with our pain and fear.

In all things, we remind ourselves and one another.....God will bring you home.  Amen