God’s Rescue Mission – Hope and a Future
(A story is told about a railway controller whose job it was to raise and lower a bridge across the Thames River. The raising of the bridge allowed ships to go up the river. He took his young son to work with him and the boy wandered off. He climbed down among the huge cogs and mechanisms which lifted and lowered the bridge. The father looked for his son when he was aware that a train was coming, and he needed to lower the bridge. At the same time, he saw his son playing amongst the winches. If he didn’t start the winches many people on the train would be killed. He did what he had to do and sadly his son was killed. It was the father’s saddest day of his life.)
An astonishing metaphor in our time we see,
Of that ancient garden memory,
Events around a special tree,
Fruit so sweet to the human eye,
Ignoring God’s warning they would die,
Decided to give the fruit a try,
Thinking that they knew best,
And as the story goes - we know the rest,
The virus of sin entered in,
Tainting goodness and perfection,
Shattering the created peace and joy,
God prepared for girl and boy!
C-19 silently has now come,
To further hurt and destroy,
The descendants of that girl and boy,
Freedom taken cunningly away,
Interrupting life day to day,
Preventing people from assembly,
Causing chaos and insurrection,
Ruining lives and economy,
Clearly scaring you and me.
Across the continents
The virus spreads,
Leaving sickness and death,
Bringing fear that’s hard to take,
The death remaining in its wake.
People panic and rush out to buy,
Toilet paper and essential supply,
Blame is dispensed,
Borders closed,
Social Distance enforced,
Businesses indisposed,
When this will end,
Nobody knows!
They should have acted sooner,
Quarantined passengers on ships,
Banned foreigners from coming in,
Protecting our own,
Everybody stays at home!
The police enforce isolation,
Combat resistance across the nation,
Hoping to halt infection,
Keep the virus at bay
There is no vaccine,
No other way!
Good Friday we lift our eyes,
As on a cross Jesus dies,
God’s has come to conquer sin,
Carrying our burdens and our pain,
New life for sinners to reclaim,
Jesus bled - died in our place,
Forgiveness won by his grace,
New hearts created,
And mercy shown,
God has reclaimed us as his own.
He took our punishment,
He fulfilled the law,
That we may live with God,
For evermore!
Earth and heaven praise God’s holy name!
Neil P. Schiller
Friday, 10 April 2020
(Story from Pastor Ben Henschke’s Sermon on Good Friday)
