Open Arms

“Love the Lord your God.” Matt 22:37        

There is a grand old stately country church south of Kearney that has a very large painting behind the altar. Entering the sanctuary one is drawn toward the artist’s depiction of Christ, arms wide open, staring directly toward the viewer. It is arresting in its sheer size but most of all by the welcoming gesture embodied by the painted image. You cannot help but get the impression that Christ’s love is depicted as expansive and magnetic.

As we near Holy Week and the Easter celebrations we are reminded of the great love of God. His arms stretched wide on the cross, His mercy extended to all people. This is a pretty familiar theme but many of us are not as familiar with the rebounding implications of this love. Put simply the double concept of love is: Christ for all, and all for Christ. God loved everything into existence and He also seeks to love everything into perfection by being the universal Beloved.

In the country church painting, which is a copy of the nineteenth century Scandinavian artist, Carl Bloch’s, “Christ the Consolator”, Christ is not alone but rather He is surrounded by adoring followers of all walks of life. This captures the sentiment of Creation’s purpose. We were created with the supreme purpose of being perfected in love and it is Jesus who is the author and perfector of our faith journey. Through Him we find that love we have always sought for. Surely, this is what it means to be a disciple and to glorify God. Let’s open our hearts wide to receive the extravagant generosity of our God’s love and pray that we become more perfected in this life of love we were created to enjoy.