God in Wellies

As I was standing in Durham today I got this very clear picture of God in Wellies

I say it was a clear picture, the wellies were clear, and I had a sense that God was there, but had no clear image of God Himself. But the wellies were plodging in muck (I thought cow muck, if you get the picture!).

As I watched the people of Durham milling around I began to see a crowd like them all walking around in that muck, and right there with them was this picture of God.

Recently I have read two books by William Paul Young, “The Shack” and “Cross Roads”, both have been seen by some as Heresy.

Both of these books are about fictional people meeting God in very messy situations. Child abduction, Pedophilia, Murder, Lies, embezzlement, family breakup, Greed, Cancer, Healing, Forgiveness and death, are but some of the issues the people face in these books, and right there in the middle of it all are images of God.

The images might to some appear different to what you see in scripture, but as you get to know Jesus better and as you read into the true character of God, in my opinion these images are not too far from the truth. What I found in these books was a God, a three in one God, who’s love for people drags Him into the most unholy of places.

There is a passion that runs through my whole being that draws me to the real down to earth Grace of God.

Back on the street in Durham, my mind took me to AD 25. Jesus was born but not yet known.

The nation was under Roman occupation with pagan practices and emperor worship. The Jewish church, doing everything they could to keep clean. There was so much defilement around that staying holy took up all their time, with ritual washing, avoiding involvement with death and disease, gentiles, tax collectors, sinners, dirt and dung.   

Into that situation came Jesus, nothing like what they might have expected from scripture.

All the things the Church avoided, Jesus became involved in and Grace came to our world.

I was speaking with a man whose Brother had ended his own life; he was mentally ill and had lived with problems for quite some time. The man said his brother had attended a good evangelical church, a church that was growing and attracting young families. But his brother felt that he was not on the agenda, and felt rejected.

I told this man about my picture of God in Wellies. His eyes seem to light up. Had God himself met his brother in the room where he had died? We don’t know, but I believe in a God who gets involved in the mess of human life even if the church sometimes misses His presence.

We see the Cross of Christ as a holy place, but the Romans saw it just as the place of execution. On Friday Jesus died and his blood poured onto the ground below, mixing with the blood of criminals who had hung there only days before, and on Monday other blood would be added to His.

The Grace of God poured out to all men, while all men were dead in sin.

As God’s Church, The Salvation Army, let’s take hold of a God who comes to seek and save the lost. Let’s come out of our comfort zones, cast aside our polished shoes, put our wellies on and join our God plodging in the muck.