Faith,
I have a challenge for you this week: See all heads in haloes!
It’s a magnificent challenge. Seriously! Try it out! Take that politician, neighbor, or family member who is trying your patience or stirring your bitterness and see them with a halo over their head. The challenge comes from the great Christian thinker, G. K. Chesterton: “But the point is that anyone believing that all these beings were made to be blessed, and multitudes of them probably well on their way to be blessed, really has a sound philosophic reason for regarding them all as radiant and wonderful creatures, or seeing all their heads in haloes.”
What’s Chesterton talking about? Perhaps one of his literary protégés, C. S. Lewis, might prove helpful. Lewis wrote something similar: “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”
Do you feel your heart opening up a bit? See, Faith, our life in Christ gives us new eyes to see the world. Where other worldviews view people as expendable or merely as rungs on a ladder to further our own self-fulfillment, the Christian story tells us of the God who made all people in His own image. It tells of the God who knit us together in our mother’s womb with inherent goodness and worth. God is the one who first said “Yes!” to every human being, and He invites our “Yes!” to second the motion!
This Sunday, we’re going to put a halo on the head of a Hebrew child born into slavery and oppression in a merciless land called Egypt. Pharaoh’s edict has issued a murderous “No!” on all Jewish boys born, but Moses’ mom and dad know their God has placed a halo on Moses’ head, and they are going to do everything to protect God’s “Yes!” The story will invite us to do the same.
I can’t wait to see your “heads in haloes” this Sunday as our faith, like theirs, makes history.
In Christ alone,
Pastor Brad
*Message notes can be downloaded here.
P.S.
Don’t forget our congregational meeting after the service on Sunday!
P.P.S.
Here are this week’s deeper dive videos:
Book of Exodus Summary: A Complete Animated Overview (Part 1)
And for extra credit!