refuge

 “I just want to hide until all of this is over.”

We want to curl up by the fire and be children again,

to take the weight of it from or own shoulders.

We want to be comforted by stories of hope,

and filled with expectation of good gifts in the morning, of better days to come.

Do you know, fellow adults, that it is not wrong to want this?

What is the right response when we meet the end of our rope?

Fear.

Fear is a rational response, 

and it can spill into panic or despair

if we try to treat it with our own paltry medicines

for they will fail us. 

It is not wrong or crazy to be afraid, to need a sanctuary

to want to escape the madness, to seek solid places when all is sinking sand.

In fact, wanting this may be a symptom of spiritual health and healing,

may be the very work of God in us. 

Wanting a refuge may be a sign that our faulty comforts are failing us,

that we can’t work or eat or distract ourselves to contentment when we face real trials,

that the shadow of death cannot be overcome by the work of our hands.

We are the body of Christ. We gather where his Word is spoken, 

to confess together, hear together, sing together, and encourage each other.

Could it be that this gathering is God’s answer to our longing,

God’s invitation for us to come in, out of the storm,

to let HIM worry about the meals and the gifts,

to rest from our works, and to just receive?

We hear his promises of new and better gifts in the morning,

and we receive His real and present gifts NOW,

Word and Sacrament,

forgiveness, life and salvation NOW,

as we gather around his real presence,

as we hide from the storm in his sanctuary.

This is exactly what God does for his people when they gather. 

Our gathering in His house around His word

it is not a mere foretaste of a refuge- it IS a refuge, right now

a place where our wounds are tended

where we are fed with heavenly food, nourished for the journey

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, now. 

We can take refuge in Him this holiday

Yes, we just have to look out our windows to see the storm raging outside

the headlines thundering and the wind howling

but why would we DWELL out there, 

fellow Christians?

Why, when we have free and open access to the real sanctuary

the warmth and light of our God’s presence is truly there waiting for us,

and he calls us to come, 

take, and eat?

Call, gather, enlighten and enliven your people, Lord.

We need your refuge.