A much greater bond of love…
If you happened to read last week’s Call to Worship, you may recall that I told a story about one of our cats. This week, I want to share a story about our dog Jingles, who, according to the information we received when we adopted her from HAWS, turned 13 on July 27. We adopted her in December of 2010. I always wanted a dog, but was told by my parents, “You can have a dog when you have your own house.” It took until I was 47 years old, but I finally got my chance as my oldest daughter Marissa started lobbying for a dog. She looked at pictures from local humane societies, and we made a few visits. Finally, a few weeks before Christmas, we went to HAWS and saw a 6-month-old Jack Russell terrier named Jingles, and we fell in love.
Well, maybe not exactly. I will say that my wife Ellen was not sure about a dog coming into our house. And, quite honestly, disrupting the household right before Christmas may not have been the wisest move on Pastor’s part. It didn’t help that Jingles wasn’t fully house trained, and when we brought her home, she did not quite make it outside as quickly as she needed to when we let her out of the travel carrier. But for those of you who have had pets, you know that they quickly seem to sense who they need to work on for acceptance. And so it was that Jingles immediately seemed to always go by Ellen. It became a running joke for the kids to try to get their Mom to admit that she loved the dog. It took a little time, but eventually she had to admit it. Ellen loved the dog.
Twelve and a half years later, having gone through some serious medical issues with her, and seeing her health once again decline, we know that our time with our dog may not be much longer (or it may – one never knows), one begins to reflect on the special place one’s pet has in his or her heart. To some, pets may seem like disposable objects. But for those of us who love our pets, we know there is a reciprocal bond. We give them what they need, and they give us what we need – acceptance and affection.
The readings for this weekend’s worship services remind us of a much greater bond of love between God and us. Almighty God would have every reason to treat us as disposable objects, but He didn’t. Instead, He sent His Son to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves and be our Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil. And the wonder of this bond of love is that it will never be broken but is eternal.
Unfortunately, not everyone warms up to that love right away. Some even say that the whole idea of love is no more than a human invention that evolved over time. But God whose essence is love created us in that love to live in love with Him and others. What a wondrous God who doesn’t give up on the people He loves; rather, the Holy Spirit continues to work through Word and Sacrament to draw people into that loving, living personal relationship with Him. As the hymnist puts it: Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav’n, to earth come down! Fix in us Thy humble dwelling, All Thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, Thou art all compassion, Pure, unbounded love Thou art; Visit us with Thy salvation, Enter ev’ry trembling heart.