Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.
– PSALM 107:1-2
Try to remember the last time you got really good news. Was it:
…A raise?
…A promotion?
…A check in the mail — a bigger tax return than you planned on?
…A marriage proposal?
…Did you find out you’re becoming a parent?
…Or, are you becoming a grandparent?
…That your meal got comp’d at Chipotle because the manager had seen you there so many days in row (that may or may not have happened to me)?
…That the team of doctors told someone you love that “it’s in remission”?
…That you got the “big envelope” from that school you were trying to get into?
More than likely, you told someone about it. You had to let someone know. This news, whatever it is is too good to keep a secret. Maybe, you announced it to the world on any number of social media platforms. Maybe, you called someone you care about. Maybe, you worked really hard at hinting in both verbal and in nonverbal kinesthetic cues so that someone else may beg you to tell them what’s happening. Perhaps, you waved a newly adorned ring finger unnecessarily, gesticulating with greater energy and emphasis than before, so that your left hand was waving a not-so-subtle banner that screams “I’m engaged now!” Maybe, you cleverly announced the news with a symbolic gift (i.e.: a picture frame that says “world’s best grandma” to someone who is not yet aware that they are about to spoil some unnamed child with too much ice cream, and trips to amusement parks, and late nights, and pancake breakfasts). You get the idea. Some things are so good, they can’t be contained.
The Bible tells the story of God releasing people from captivity of all kinds. He released people from slavery in Egypt. He overwhelms the powerful with his power. Jesus conquered the oppression of physical illness with a compassionate healing touch. Those in the grip of localized evil, harassed by demonic forces find themselves unshackled from the mysterious darkness that held them down. And, in most every instance, even when Jesus told people NOT to tell the story of what God had done, they couldn’t help it.
Last Friday, at our ROOTED experience graduation, I was reminded of the ongoing story of God-at-work in our midst. Some of the attendees gave voice to that personal narrative by publicly putting it on display in baptism. Others told their stories in succinct “before and afters” on the two sides of a piece of cardboard, spelled out in big block letters. On one side were the implicit words: “I once was…” And the other side, was the unspoken: “But, now I’m…” Something had clearly happened between the two sides of that cardboard. God had stepped powerfully into their lives, reversing the irreversible, and re-imagining their futures that up until that moment, felt like fate. Those kinds of stories need to be told. They can’t be kept secret. They’re just too good.
We get “weirded out” trying to put words to the story of God’s miraculous work in our lives. Sometimes we’re longing for a bigger miracle than the one we got (or didn’t get at all). Sometimes, we’re so deeply overwhelmed by the circumstances of our present situation that we can’t see God at all. The Psalms repeatedly remind me of that reality — that the most faithful people cry out to God: “where have you gone?” But, occasionally, without too much over-explaining there is a story too good not to be told — a story not fully completed for people like you and me. It’s a story of God bringing us from “there” to “here” and perhaps beyond. That story ought to be told… Because all stories of redemption are good stories.
See you soon,
Jeff
Hello everyone!
