In the summers when I worked at camp, a pastor would come and teach our staff the basics of Lutheran theology. Once, a pastor flipped open a pad of paper and drew and enormous downward arrow. He said, “The most important thing I learned at seminary and in my ministry is this: God comes down. That’s at the heart of all of it. God comes down.”
God came down to this world, put some skin on and lived among us. Jesus came down into the muck and mud of our human life, into the despair and joy, the love and hurt, the ugliness and beauty. This coming down is the path we know to life, to hope, to goodness. This coming down didn’t just bring us salvation, but shows us the path to truth and to life. We will find surprising joy, real community and deep purpose in following Jesus in this downward way. In service and humility, in vulnerability and self-giving, in our downward arrows, we find life.
This message is excerpted from the Bible study “Scripture and nature: Teachers of faith” by Sara Olson-Smith in the March/April 2024 Gather magazine.
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