Excerpt from Isaiah 43:8-13

"I am God. I make, who can unmake?"  (The Message)

Reflection by William C. Green

Creation is shattered, broken by sin and injustice, lovelessness and betrayal. But no more than oxygen can be removed from air or hydrogen from water can God be taken away from what's torn apart.

We can't easily see this. No more than parents can rest in the assurance that all will be well with their children can we bask in the belief that what is wrong, or what could go wrong, poses no threat. As Paul puts it, "not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for redemption." Redemption, deliverance from the wrongs we inflict or fear, is not a simple fix. It's a process in which what is broken is brought together in ways stronger and more beautiful than before.
 
Lent is a time to think about all this. Too often believers jump ahead to an empty tomb and the promise of Easter. What could that really mean to Jesus, or to us, if it's a denial of the doubt and suffering that had made it so painfully unimaginable? And what can our own love and good work mean if that rests on what we alone can pull off?

This side of eternity we can't know it all. But in the spirit of Christ we can work for, and look forward to, the remaking of all now incomplete and, often enough, torn apart. Thank God.

Prayer

Creator God, you work to remold and make us and all your creation into what you mean us to be, in the spirit of Christ. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green is Vice-President for Strategy and Development, Moral Courage Project, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

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