Her name was Fiona – the bride that is, who it was suggested should now throw her bouquet to see who among the single ladies attending her wedding might next be married. Not that we were at the evening reception you understand – it was simply that as we walked along the sand at Perranporth, we couldn’t help but hear both the excessively loud music and the protestations of the DJ coming from the hotel that overlooked the beach.
It was, if I’m honest, a little intrusive – not that I’d begrudge the happy, and in all probability now severely deaf, couple their evening of celebration. Besides, the noise it generated was unable to draw my attention away from the impressive waves that continued to pound the shore unhindered. Furthermore, whilst the next morning the party, if not the honeymoon, was over, the waves remained – a constant to be relied upon in a world that can never stand still.
But here’s the thing – the brash and out of place music was both tame and temporary compared to the wildness of the never-ending waves. Which is something that could also be said about much of what seeks to distract us each day – the words of the supposedly powerful that are shouted today but forgotten tomorrow, the news events that generate headlines that are soon replaced by those heralding something still more cataclysmic, and the trivialities that those of us foolish enough to engage in social media waste countless hours scrolling through – the thoughts they generate as transient as the sandcastles that are washed away with each successive tide.
And even the genuinely significant and oftentimes very painful circumstances that, as C.S. Lewis suggested, act as God’s megaphone to wake a sleeping world, are light and momentary when compared with the weighty and eternal matters of God.
For he is from everlasting to everlasting, his steadfast love never ceases, and his mercy never comes to an end. His never-changing word endures, his purposes stand forever, and, as we remember particularly today, Jesus’ ascension was not just to heaven, but to a throne from which he continues to reign, and so his kingdom is one that will never fall.
Even so, as C.S. Lewis also observed, God, while good, is not safe. And just like the sea at Perranporth is dangerous — as I discovered some fifty years ago when its infamously treacherous tides dragged me out of my depth and I had to be rescued by the RNLI — so too is the living God.
For the One whose love can buoy us up and bring immense delight is also infinitely holy. And so, conscious of our wrongdoing and subject to his justice, we ought to tremble before him and respect him as surely as we should the perilous sea.
Which is where Jesus comes in. For just as the RNLI rescues those who disregard the advice given as to where it’s safe to swim, so Jesus, lovingly sent by his Father, saves those who have paid scant regard to God’s law and done whatever seemed good in their own eyes. Only more so. For not only has Jesus atoned for our sin, enabling us to be justly forgiven, he has also provided us with the perfect righteousness that we need to stand guilt-free before the one who wholly accepts and wonderfully welcomes us into his family as his much-loved children.
And this salvation, as well as being complete, is permanent. Because those who, quite apart from their own efforts, find themselves reconciled to God – through the life, death and resurrection of the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever – will never be lost again.
And the celebrations marking their homecoming, and the discovery of the stability they’ve longed for, will be more joyful still than those of even the most exuberant wedding party.
Related posts:
To read ‘The Day that Never Ends: An Easter Reflection’, click here
To read ‘Good Friday – Good for those who know they’re not’, click here
To read ‘A Warm Welcome Awaited: From Hosanna to Hallelujah’, click here
To read ‘Visions of Blue: Echoes of Grace’, click here
To read ‘Minding the Gap’, click here
To read ‘And not just because baked beans get in the way’, click here
To read ‘The Kindness We Don’t Needand the Truth We Do’, click here
To read ‘No Ifs or Buts’, click here
To read ‘Hope in the Ashes: Why Sin Remains But Does Not Reign’, click here
To read ‘Twenty Four Reasons for Hope this Christmas’, click here
Some musings 