First Thursday of Advent
Scripture Reading for Today:
The Beauty of a Kiss
by Aaron Gerrard
At the Ancaster Fair this past Fall I walked past one of those crazy mirrors that distorts everything. Among several ways it changed reality was to make me look thirty pounds lighter. I liked that. But it also made me five feet taller and distorted my body to look like a wavy spaghetti noodle incapable of existence. There’s always a little temptation in the distortion, but I’d rather keep my original reality.
The mirror got me thinking. It’s a helpful way to understand how sin, shame, and brokenness have affected the way in which we understand God’s good creation. Genesis 3: where there was once shalom, there is now disunity, distortion, and brokenness. Where human intimacy with each other and the Father once created a picture of compassion, love, and togetherness, there is now the marginalization of people and all sorts of injustices. Instead of freedom there is guilt and shame. Instead of compassion there is selfishness. Things are out of sorts. Distorted. We live in a circus mirror now. We still see God’s beauty and his character all around us, but it’s not the same. And sadly, that which is a distortion of the way it was originally meant to be has too often become our accepted normal.
We accept conflict between nations, people, families, and churches, because “it’s normal.” And it is, but it’s not.
We accept the existence of the marginalized because “it’s normal,” but it’s not.
We accept suffering because “it’s normal,” but it’s not.
And the list goes on.
We must always remember this wasn’t Creation’s original design. None of the distortion we see around us is normal. None of it.
Throughout Scripture, the word “righteousness” pops up with regularity. It’s commonplace. Unfortunately, the word “righteousness” is often understood as a state of being. This isn’t entirely wrong, but it’s certainly incomplete. (We can blame our Western-lawyer-Reformation faith forefathers for this. Too much legalese, not enough art in their diet.)
When the Scriptures speak of God’s righteousness it’s more like an invasion of his goodness, or an active righting of wrongs. It doesn’t matter what story you look at, when the Israelites knew God was with them in battle displaying his righteousness, they knew they had the victory. They celebrated God’s righteousness because they saw it as a fierce, Holy, beautiful goodness that would invade injustice and destroy evil. God’s righteousness, as we read in Scripture, is always about action, redemption, rescue, justice, and blessing.
It’s always a verb. And it always leads to peace (shalom).
Psalm 85:8-13 poetically and artfully describes this movement of God:
Let me hear what the Lord God says,
because he speaks peace to his people and to his faithful ones.
Don’t let them return to foolish ways.
God’s salvation is very close to those who honour him
so that his glory can live in our land.
Faithful love and truth have met;
righteousness and peace have kissed.
Truth springs up from the ground;
righteousness gazes down from heaven.
Yes, the Lord gives what is good,
and our land yields its produce.
Righteousness walks before God,
making a road for his steps.
The good and restorative actions of God and the shalom and wholeness of God have met, and they have kissed. And in this beautiful romantic embrace, truth springs up, the goodness of God gazes upon us, the land is restored, and God makes a way. This is the picture into which we are invited to participate. This is the hope of our faith for our own broken lives and for the distorted creation. God is at work — his unstoppable righteousness — and we are invited to be a part of it. We get to be a part of fixing the circus mirrors, removing the distortions, and seeing things as they should be.
I have no idea where you’re at today. Maybe the distortions are all you can feel and see right now. Just now, while writing this reflection, I received a text message from one of my congregants. It’s not good news. Surgery. Worry. Anxiety. Fear. Anger. For some of us, the distortion is everything right now. For you, I pray that the kiss would be something you can sense in your life — that someone or something would join God in his righteousness and share with you a moment of restoration amidst the circus mirror.
Maybe you’re someone neck-deep in working alongside God’s righteousness and you’re tired, burned out, or lacking hope as you desperately want to see results and change. May the Lord give to you what is good and yield produce.
Or maybe you’re someone who’s being asked by God to participate in his righteous work. Maybe there’s a new project or purpose ahead? For you, may God make a road before you as he leads you into partnership with him.
In all these ways there is beauty to be seen and felt — a kiss to be experienced. Amen.
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