Our God is Awesome & Our God is Patient
At the 11th hour on the 11th day in the 11th month, the Great War (W.W.I) ended. The scarred earth of Flanders and Northern France, filled with trenches and barbed wire, was deserted. And the following spring the good earth filled with blooming poppies. The Fields of Flanders recovered faster than the warring nations.
While our oceans are full of floating plastics – plates, bottles, bags, and dinnerware, slowly the sea water is breaking it down. Nature is cleansing herself of our waste and thoughtlessness.
In Joshua’s address to the 12 tribes of Israel, following the death of Moses, he asks them whom they will serve. He reminds them that even their ancestor Abraham worshiped other Gods and even after 40 years of wilderness wondering, following their escape from Egypt, many of them are still clinging to other Gods. Joshua calls them to be transformed and to turn to the God who gave them freedom.
The author of Thessalonians, St. Paul, first appears in our scriptures as a zealot who arrests and imprisons the earliest followers of Jesus. He even presided at the stoning education of St. Stephen.
Our God is awesome, seeking our transformation into the people we were created to be. And our God is patient; God is not done with us yet.
