“A Little Jesus Goes A Long Way”
Earlier this week, my niece sent me a video about a church’s youth group that put two hundred little plastic Jesus toys around the church. Jesus was by the coffee. Jesus sat on the thermostat. Jesus was by the soap dispenser. Jesus greeted you as you came in. Jesus was there as you walked out. Everyone in the church left with a little “Jesus” to accompany them through the week.
Without getting into a debate on the Second Commandment, I thought this was a sweet moment for that community. I can relate since one of our church members gave Thea a Jesus “stuffie” for Christmas. Last Saturday, during the Men’s Breakfast, Thea took Jesus down the slide. Thea and Jesus pretended to go shopping. Thea and Jesus had an amazing time!
Hopefully, we all know that these replicas aren’t Jesus. Most of them are far whiter and prettier than I picture him. In 2022, Popular Mechanics hired a team to use forensic anthropology to develop a model of what Jesus may have looked like, and the brown-eyed man with dark skin, who would have lived in the Middle East during the first century looks little like the face we see in our art-work, children’s Bibles and stuffies.
That said, isn’t it a helpful reminder that Jesus really is with us on the slide, by the soap dispensers, as we come into church, and as we leave? Have you ever needed that reminder?
I have. There are times when heaven seems distant and the shadows threaten to overwhelm. Jesus is with us. There are days that are fun and filed with sunshine. Jesus is with us. Part of the prayer called “The Breastplate of Saint Patrick” reads:
Christ to shield me today ..
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the threeness, through confession of the oneness of the Creator of creation.
Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of Christ. May your salvation, Oh Lord, be ever with us.”
A little Jesus goes a long way … but we never have a “little Jesus”. The fullness of God dwells in Jesus, and the fulless of Jesus dwells in us through the Holy Spirit. That Jesus will go with you on the slide, to the grocery store, and through the valley of the shadow of death. You’re in HIs hands.
With You;
Pastor Tim
