My God

She sat down beside me as I wept in the now emptied church.

And she said ‘may I tell you about my God?’

Wrapt in misery, I could only nod.

Her eyes looked out toward far horizons, toward distant hills

“My God” she said.  “My God

Is called Jesus.

He has other names but that is his name.

In the beginning – well, in a beginning – he became almost nothing for me

One tiny cell, buried in the deep dark of a womb.

Held, nurtured, protected, carried.

Vulnerable, loved.

Growing surrounded – engulfed – by the quiet steady heartbeat of love.

Until at his birth, the heavens rang with angel song

and shepherds came in from the cold

and Wise Men knelt before him.

Up from the water and out of the wilderness, he came again, different this time,

Wind swept, fired up, full of passion and grace.

My God turns water into wine and saves the day,

banishes those things which make men mad,

heals the sick and the ashamed,

lifts up those bent double by affliction so they can see the world again

forgives the unforgiveable, embraces the unembraceable,
invites the uninvited

receives the benediction of tears, mingled with the perfume of the grave.

One day, to be with his friends in their fear, my God walked on water.

And brave, bold, reckless Peter jumped out of the boat and walked on water too!

And when the beating waves drew him down – as inevitably they would –

My God reached out his hand and said ‘Come’

And walked with Peter back to the boat

Eventually, they came for him, my God,

in the dark, with swords.

He received their blows, their scorn, their contempt.

They spat on him and whipped him and they nailed him to a cross.

And in the end – well, at an end – he was held again

This time no spark of hope, no heartbeat of love.

Simply the mourning of women and the silence of a tomb.

But this was not the end

And one day I will see my God, my Jesus, face-to-face again

Throned in splendour, glorious in light.

And I will stand shoulder to shoulder with all the souls that have been, and are, and ever will be

On the plain, before the Lamb

And we will sing out hallelujahs and our praise will resound

Throughout the world.”

She looked at me and held out her hand

and she said “will you come now?”

and I said “yes”

and we walked, hand in hand, back out into the light.