December 2nd Reflection by Bill Lynch

1st Sunday of Advent 
Jeremiah 33:14-16 (NRSV)
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."

Reflection
It was all so wrong. It just didn't seem fair. How could God let this happen to any people, no matter if they believed or not. The tornado had swept through the neighborhood with a vengeance. The tornado seemed to pick and choose houses. Hit a house and skip a house, hit two houses in a row and jump across the street to a row of four houses and then skip a house. Sadly one of my elderly neighbors, Ben, was killed by a two by four as he hid in his basement. Several neighbors were hurt, a few broken bones and many of them were cut.

After the tornado passed, I went out into the street to see what had happened and survey the damage. My house was, for the most part, missed. There was some damage from debris and the roof and shingles were torn up, but that was about it. I turned to see the destruction and ran to my neighbor's houses to see if anyone was hurt and to help them. I had my cell phone and called 911 but rescue was coming down the street as I was tapping the numbers into my phone.

The firefighters were amazing. They had practiced and were ready for just such a disaster. The only way I was called upon to help was to account for how many people lived in which houses. It was the Fire Chief that corralled me and kept me captive for this information. Of course I knew most of the information but not all of it. Luckily another neighbor from down the street came and helped with those neighbors that I didn't personally know that he did know.

After all had been accounted for and the injured treated or taken to the hospital and Ben's family notified; it felt as if a load of emotion was dropped upon me. As I sat in my family room and recalled the events of that day, it dawned upon me that God wasn't in the storm; God was in the rescue. God was in the healing. God was the one that made things right after a random weather event. God didn't pick and choose people to punish with death, injury and loss. God came to those who needed healing. And God came to save. God was in the rescue.

Those words just kept flooding my mind. I thought of the coming of Jesus to a lost and broken world. God was in the rescue, the salvation, the healing. God was keeping his promise that even after we mess it all up, he will come. Israel had messed it up in the worship of idols. King after king came into rule with only a few good ones and for the most part they lead the people away from God. Likewise in my life, I sin and run from God. I make a mess of things on my own. But God comes to me in the Holy Spirit and the Word of the Bible and through Jesus to rescue me from myself, sin, death and the devil. God came to save. God is in the rescue and the healing!

In the next few weeks and months to follow, I decided that I wanted to be part of the rescue and the healing. I wanted to be the hands that God could use to help my neighbor's recover. I wanted to be the heart and voice of rescue and healing and I wanted God to use me day after day. Daily in prayer I came to God and time after time a word was spoken to do this or do that or drink coffee and talk to this person or that person and just to be there.

As I did these things and kept in prayer, I noticed a change in myself. I was healing and being rescued by the very people I was going to. It became a two way street in our neighborhood with a God that was treating and healing and saving all of us together in community with one another with God at the center.

God wasn't in the storm... God was in the rescue.

Prayer
Lord, this season of Advent, we think and we wait, we listen and we live in the hope of your rescue. You rescue after the storm. You are with us in the storm, before the storm and after the storm. Come, Lord Jesus, come... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen