17 Nov 2017
Our readings today really affirm the goodness of this
life. Wisdom says, “From the greatness
and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen.” In the psalm we heard, “The heavens declare
the glory of God.” And in the gospel…well,
it’s a little harder to hear the affirmation, but it’s there.
We see it in the persons of Noah and Lot, and in their
approach to this life on earth. Jesus
says that people “were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up
to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them
all. Similarly, as it was in the days of
Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building.”
Well, Noah and Lot were doing these earthly activities as
well. The difference is that they saw
the goodness of this life not as an end in itself, but as a way that God
reveals himself to humanity. So our
Scripture today really affirms the goodness of this life. And this life is good because it’s a major
way God shares himself with us. “From
the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by
analogy, is seen.”
If we look at a piece of handcrafted furniture, or a wood
carving, or anything handmade—homemade soup, music, a painting, a quilt, a
cross-stitch—there’s something of its maker left behind in it. Or look at children; there’s something of the
parents that comes through the children.
There’s something of God the Creator that comes through creation.
And so, it’s good to enjoy the good things of this life, and
to thank God for it all. That approach
to life makes us see God who is the Maker, who is the Goodness behind the
goodness. It makes us see that, really,
heaven has come to us—now, today and every day.
God has come to us, and made himself known to us through
creation. I wonder what other goodness
he has to show us…beyond this life.
Whatever it is, it’ll be…magnificent.
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