On a Rescue Mission

I was at the Jersey shore, enjoying a day at the ocean, about 12 years of age and carefree.  Playing in water that was about waist deep, I suddenly found myself in the grip of a hidden force that pulled me off my feet. Frantically, I watched the safety of the sandy beach grow further away. Coughing and choking, I tried to swim back.  Suddenly, a man appeared next to me and told me to hang onto him as he dragged me to safety. 20 seconds of sheer terror is how I remember that day.  I was caught in a ‘riptide.’ It’s like a river in the ocean that causes a strong, narrow current that flows directly away from the shoreline. Most ocean drowning deaths are caused by rip currents, hidden and very dangerous.

This thing we call life can be wonderful one moment and fill us terror in the next. There are rip currents that are hidden just below the surface of ordinary things.  The boss calls us into the office and changes our whole life when he says, “Your position will terminate in 30 days.”  The doctor looks concerned and everything changes when she says, “It’s malignant.”  We wake up one day to find that our best friend has inexplicably become our foe. Can we survive the rip current that drags us towards the dark depths?

Yes, but not alone. This is one of the reasons I why I am so thankful for the Church, the Body of Christ! In a healthy church, we are all lifeguards. When we see someone floundering, being dragged under by currents, we will offer a hand, come alongside to pull him to safety, or- at least – we will help him stay afloat until the current gives out.  You need to be more than an attender of a local church!  Today you have the opportunity to build strong connections to others. Tomorrow, you may be crying out for their aid.  When life is hard you’re going to need more than songs and poems. You’re going to need robust relationships, unconditional love, people who will drag you to safety!

An authentic church is not a place where nicely dressed people, with beautifully ordered lives, show up for a couple of hours a week to boast about their accomplishments or to pray pitiful prayers for people whose lives are ‘such a mess.’ It’s a place where real people celebrate God’s goodness and hang onto each other for dear life. It’s a ‘family’ where hurting people are re-connected to the healing Presence of the Spirit. It’s a spiritual hospital where sinful people find a Savior who restores them to the wholeness that God created them to enjoy.

Have we forgotten what the announcement of Jesus’ birth was about? It was not about a coronation!  It was the start of a rescue mission. "An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21, NIV)

If you’re enjoying a sunny day at the beach in your life right now, give thanks!

If you’re caught in a rip current that is dragging you down, YELL for help- to God, to a trusted fellow Christian.

A simple prayer will suffice – “Lord, help me!” There’s hope in Him. The teenage girl who became the mother of Jesus, found her life turned upside by a divine visitation that seemed more like a riptide than a blessing, at first.  “Mary,” the angel said, “you have found favor with God, so He’s going to make you pregnant and you will become the mother of a son whom you will name, Jesus.”  Her neat, unremarkable life was sucked into a current.  How would she survive the ridicule, the tough days ahead?  Faith! Tucked into the story of her encounter is a phrase I want to leave with you today. "Mary said to the angel, “But how? … His reply, “Nothing, you see, is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:34, 37, The Message)

Remember! A Savior has been born. He is Christ, the Lord!
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Hark, the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled.

Joyful all ye nations rise,

Join the triumph of the skies.

With th'angelic hosts proclaim,

“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Hark, the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace.

Hail the Sun of Righteousness.

Light and life to all He brings,

Ris'n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by,

Born that man no more may die.

Born to raise the sons of earth,

Born to give them second birth.

Hark, the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Come, Desire of nations come,

Fix in us Thy humble home.

Rise the woman's conqu’ring seed,

Bruise in us the serpent's head.

Adam’s likeness now efface,

Stamp Thine image in its place.

Second Adam from above,

Reinstate us in Thy love.

Hark, the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hark The Herald Angels Sing (Mendelssohn)

Charles Wesley | Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

© Words: Public Domain