A God Who Gathers Us Up and Delights in Us

For the first time since my twenties, I find myself living alone. Johanna is happily tucked into her studio apartment with a year long lease. Adam is living in an old rambling house near UBC with 13 other guys. Craig is starting his third semester at Simpson University. We said our tearful goodbyes to Gracie, our dearly beloved dog of almost 15 years, a few days before Christmas. The house is quiet and surprisingly tidy. I wander about from room to room, feeling the silence, palpable around me. I am surprised at how I want to face into this silence rather than avoid it. I sense it has much to show me.

Sunday, Luc told a searing, moving, beautiful story of God renewing and healing his heart after a profound wounding. Our scripture was from Isaiah 62:1-5. In these passages, we get a glimpse of a God who manifests by renewing and delighting. In the passage, the prophet refuses to be quiet about his hope in a God who would renew the people, city, and land that the prophet loved. God does this, the prophet tells us, because God delights in them, and it is God’s delight to renew them. Luc’s story was a beautiful manifestation of this God who renews and delights in his creation.

After it was over, I spent time reading old journals, pondering my own heart and the twists and turns of my story. I touched upon my own woundings over the years. I  remembered touchstone stories that happened along the way which facilitated my healing, renewal, and change.

What shifts when we view our slowly evolving journeys of healing and renewal as a manifestation of God?

What shifts when we imagine a God who gathered us up and delighted in us, even in our woundedness, and then, slowly over the years, tenderly guided us towards good medicine—people, places, books, experiences, animals, plants, actions, choices—that had the power to heal?

What if our own healing is indeed a cause of great delight in God? If we view God through this epiphany lens, how is our very image of God healed?

As I ponder, I also gently touch upon places within me that still are being renewed and healed. I am still wounded; still in process. I sense a tightness ease within me as I hold the wounds alongside this image of a God who gathers me in, delights, renews, and delights in me some more. I  glimpse that it really isn’t all up to us. That there is deep magic in the universe, a patterned way of God’s manifestation, which is moving each of us, moving the very created order, inexorably forward towards renewal and delight.

I recognize that the easing I sense in my body, in my chest, has a name. Hope. And accompanying hope, I feel a tiny flicker of gladness. Perhaps this too is an epiphany moment, a manifestation of God’s delight, in the very muscles and breath of my body. I am choosing to receive it as such today. 

May peace be with you
the peace of a deep breathe in
as you savour the good medicine God provides for  you this day
the peace of a full exhale out
as you expel the stale air of fear you’ve been holding in your bones
the peace of a pause 
as you imagine your wounding held tenderly by God 
the peace of an easing muscle
as you relax into a God who is working deep magic in the universe
the peace of a tiny flicker of delight

Traveling through Oregon late at night, Johanna and Brock stopped at a small grocery. It was empty but for the cashier who, taking advantage of his thimbleful of power, told them a “joke”. It was explicitly sexual and crudely objectified women. When they told me this story this week, I didn’t laugh. I groaned. 

Groans are powerful. Groans keep us from making peace with things that have no peace. 

Jaahnavi Kandula, a graduate student from India, was studying in Seattle. While crossing the street in January, she was hit and killed by a speeding police car. This week, the body cam video of the officer sent to assess the incident became public. He was vice president of Seattle’s police union. While speaking to the union president in the recording he confirms her death and then laughs: “Yeah, just write a cheque — $11,000. She was 26, anyway. She had limited value.” (NYT article link)

I heard these two stories on the same day. The “micro”—in this instance, something as small as laughter—is the expression of the “macro”, the ubiquity of misogyny.

Maybe groaning is having its day.

In Romans 8, there is groaning, too: Creation, every microscopic part of it, is groaning. Humans are groaning. God’s Spirit is groaning—an inexpressible groan, too deep for words. 

When we groan, our bodies and breath take over. Our bodies show us what is becoming intolerable, what is violating our deep values and convictions. A groan is prophetic. A groan dares to call out what must no longer be. 

Last week, a super storm dropped an unprecedented amount of rain—a year’s worth—in a single day near Derna, Libya. Both dams in the city burst, washing twenty percent of the town into the sea. Folk acquainted with war, dislocation, and hunger now face the grief of thousands missing. It feels like the whole earth is groaning these days. 

Despite all this, creation continues to hope. From Romans 8: “For the creation is waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.”

Could it truly be, after all we’ve done, that creation has not given up on us? That it sees potential in us? Is waiting for us, the collective children of God, to step up and become kin? Could it truly be that we are the ones for whom the earth waits?

The groans are the deep work of the Spirit, birthing a new way of being. The grief breaks us open and builds momentum within us, pressing down with strength and conviction into us. Through our collective groaning, too deep for words, something is being liberated—born. A piercing cry: “It is time.”

Time to be connected rather than cut off from our power. 

Time to say, “You may not talk about my daughter, or anyone else’s daughter, or treat anyone’s body, including the earth, this way, any more.”   

No more laughing at and minimizing the harm being done. 
No more self-justifying and excusing the harm being done. 
No more numbing and distracting ourselves from the harm being done.

It’s time to feel the deep groans of the entire created order gathering strength and momentum inside of us. 

The flood in Libya was caused by drops of rain. Tiny, inconsequential raindrops joined together, became the force that broke dams and tore down houses. Raindrops did that. The micro became the macro as water gained momentum and sped down the hillside. 

Our tiny choices matter. If everyone stopped laughing at misogynistic jokes they would cease to be jokes. Patriarchy is made up of tiny raindrops. But so is the reign of God.

This is the season of creation. All over the world those who follow Jesus are figuring out how to be better kin to creation. Young people are protesting in London. Farmers are planting trees in Central America. Nuns are holding prayer vigils. Church leaders are signing treaties. The river is building strength, building momentum. 

“The Season of Creation fills us with hope, because we are many, around the world, celebrating in unity for our common home: every small action counts to make the river of justice and peace flow!”**

Deep peace and blessing,
Anne

Rev. Anne Baxter Smith
Pastor, Church at Southpoint

** From the Season of Creation website. 

PS. If you want to catch up before this Sunday:
(1) Forest Sunday
(2) Land Sunday
(3) Wilderness Sunday

Worship Calendar

Location & Zoom. We meet on Sundays at 15639 24 Avenue, Surrey. Zoom is offered if you cannot attend in person. If you have trouble with the zoom link, use: meeting ID: 831 1690 9977 with password: 753319

Sermons Are Podcasted
Catch up on Southpoint sermons by finding the podcast “Meditations from the Church at Southpoint” on Spotify, Apple and Google. They’re also available on our website: www.southpoint.ca.

Sun Sep 24 All IN Anne Baxter Smith
Season of Creation (4) Let Justice Flow in the Rivers
Amos 5:24, Isa 43:19, Rev 22: 1-5

Sun Oct 1 St Francis Sunday
Refreshing our Imagination
Joy Banks: introducing our four core images.
Isa 55

Sun Oct 8   Jake Tucker
Thanksgiving Sunday
The God of Small Things
Luke 13: 18-21

Sun Oct 15  Anne Baxter Smith
Well
John 4:1-42 (**v 13-14)

Sun Oct 22 ALL OUT  Service Opportunity TBA
No service in the Sunnyside building

Sun Oct 29 Fifth Sunday Brunches
No service in the Sunnyside building

Sun Nov 5   Anne Baxter Smith
Table 
Matthew 14:13-21

Sun Nov 12  Anne Baxter Smith
Net
John 21: 1-14

Sun Nov 19 Anne Baxter Smith
Seed
Mark 4: 26-29, Ps 26:5,6

New to Southpoint?

At Southpoint, it all begins with God’s love. Just as a plant grows, it receives sunshine, so we grow as we receive God’s love. At Southpoint, we are growing in our capacity to love God, ourselves, one another, and creation.

We seek to be a community of grace that is intentional yet organic, spacious yet authentic, grace-filled yet accountable. * We are fully welcoming. *

We encourage relationships rather than run programs, yet we recognize the importance of intentionality and structure as we nurture life together.

As a community, we seek to put our love in action. We value helping out on Sunday mornings, sharing food, and showing up in hard times. We keep our church life simple so folk have time to build relationships with family, friends, and neighbours. We encourage folk to serve in tangible ways within the wider community. We rent space rather than own a building, allowing us to do more with less, supporting missions at home and abroad.

Curious to know more?

These six slides express what motivates our ministry (best viewed on a monitor). Here’s the bio of our Pastor, Rev. Anne Baxter Smith.

If you’d like to really peek inside, sign up for our weekly Southpoint News (scroll to brown footer at bottom of page). The Southpoint News is a MailChimp distributed email—you can unsubscribe anytime and will not be added to our contacts list. Email us at office@southpoint.ca. Website: southpoint.ca.

un. Jan. 30, 10:00 am (On Zoom)
Speaker: Anne Smith
A Glimpse of One Who Nourishes
Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5, 6, 8-10 

Sun. Feb. 6 (In-Person at Sunnyside!)
Speaker: Anne Smith
A Glimpse of One Who Consecrates
Jeremiah 1: 4-10

Sun. Feb. 13
Speaker: Anne Smith
A Glimpse of One Who Sends
Isaiah 6: 1-8 (9-13)

Sun. Feb. 20
Speaker: Anne Smith
A Glimpse of One Who Preserves
Genesis 45: 3-11, 15

Sun. Feb. 27 All Out
No service –gathering for brunches

Wed. Mar 2    Ash Wednesday

Sun. Mar 6   First Sunday of Lent

New to Southpoint?

At Southpoint, it all begins with God’s love. Just as a plant grows, it receives sunshine, so we grow as we receive God’s love. At Southpoint, we are growing in our capacity to love God, ourselves, one another, and creation.

We seek to be a community of grace that is intentional yet organic, spacious yet authentic, grace-filled yet accountable. * We are fully welcoming. *

We encourage relationships rather than run programs, yet we recognize the importance of intentionality and structure as we nurture life together.

As a community, we seek to put our love in action. We value helping out on Sunday mornings, sharing food, and showing up in hard times. We keep our church life simple so folk have time to build relationships with family, friends, and neighbours. We encourage folk to serve in tangible ways within the wider community. We rent space rather than own a building, allowing us to do more with less, supporting missions at home and abroad.

Curious to know more?

These six slides express what motivates our ministry (best viewed on a monitor). Here’s the bio of our Pastor, Rev. Anne Baxter Smith.

If you’d like to really peek inside, sign up for our weekly Southpoint News (scroll to brown footer at bottom of page). The Southpoint News is a MailChimp distributed email—you can unsubscribe anytime and will not be added to our contacts list. Email us at office@southpoint.ca. Website: southpoint.ca.