Day of Praise

Th, 01/09/14, "Day of Praise"

John 11:44 - "The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'"

Psalm 44:3 - "...for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them."

In the first verse, Lazarus, who represents all people who need God's help, has his hands and face wrapped. In the second verse, the Psalmist celebrates how God has helped us with God's right hand and the light of God's face.

Hands and face.

When my now teenaged son was six years old, he made a place mat that said, "I like to play ball with my dad." The picture he drew on it had two stick people: one was small with nothing but two tiny hands and a small face; the other was large with nothing but two huge hands and a huge face. It's as if God made every child to know the need for their little hands and face to be shared and played with and helped by a bigger set of hands and face.

And so it is when Jesus stretches out his hands and turns his face towards the Father, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Friends, may your day be blessed as you live assured that the hands of God are reaching out to help you and the face of God is looking on you in love. And may our hands and face know the joy of passing it on!

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson