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From the Pastor

December 7, 2018 by Rev. John Hartman

“The God Who Comes Close”

I remember hearing the story told of a woman telling about being on an airplane flying from Tucson to Phoenix. Also on that plane was a young mom and her baby daughter. And the little baby was saying, “Dada, Dada.” She had a little pink bow in her hair, and anytime someone walked by she would say, “Dada, Dada.” It turns out Dada was going to be there waiting to pick them up at the airport. Everybody sitting around that little baby girl thought it was so cute the way she carried on calling to her “Dada.”

Well, the plane took off, and it was a very rough flight, but that young mother had a thermos full of orange juice, and whenever the baby girl would cry, she would give her a sip of that orange juice. The plane went through such heavy turbulence, that the attendants had to remain in their seats. It turned out that that little baby got sick and everything that went down came up. Now without going into detail, it looked as if more was “up” then there was baby. And all the passengers in that area were not doing very well as the plane was pitching back and forth in the air.

Finally the airplane landed. As soon as the plane landed the baby was fine. Once again, the baby started calling, “Dada! Dada! Dada!” And as the woman telling the story looked out the window of the airplane, — there he was, a young man, dressed in a white shirt, with white pants, carrying white flowers wrapped in green paper. And this woman thought, “Boy, this is going to be fun to see.”

She said, “I bet this dad is going to come running toward that baby, take one look at that baby, and keep right on running!”

Here is what she writes happened: “As he ran to the young mother, I wouldn’t say she threw the baby at him, but she did kind of leave quickly to go and get cleaned up.

That Dad picked up that baby and as I watched, he hugged that baby and kissed

that baby and stroked that baby’s hair. He said, ‘Daddy’s baby has come home. Daddy’s baby has come home.’ All the way to the baggage claim area, he never stopped kissing that baby. He never stopped welcoming that baby home. And this woman thought, ‘Where did I ever get the idea that my Father God is any less loving than a young father in white pants and a white shirt carrying white flowers wrapped in green paper?’”

Friends, in spite of all our uncleanliness, God is not afraid to get close to us, touch us, take us into in his everlasting arms, and welcome us home.

John Hartman

Quote of the Week

“The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation.”

J.I. Packer

James Innell Packer, usually cited as J. I. Packer, is a British-born Canadian Christian theologian in the low-church Anglican and Calvinist traditions. He currently serves as the Board of Governors' Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia.