“For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”

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I recently pulled into a gas station only to be greeted by an actor displayed on a video screen mounted in the gas pump. This was followed by a young woman giving a brief news update! At the gas station? Sure, why not. The marketing execs at this company must have figured that since we all run around with our noses in some kind of screen all day long anyway – ipads, iphones, whatever –  why not jump on the bandwagon? Actually, it was kind of cool! I suppose the idea was to make me feel like I was ‘connected’. 

I love gadgets and all the great ‘techno’ stuff available today. At the same time the technological brilliance and obvious utility of gadgets cannot finally address our fundamental sense of estrangement.  They can only connect us to a point. In fact, they can sometimes make the sense of estrangement more vivid. 

Many things go into forming an authentic human life but love is absolutely essential. It is the key ingredient. Without love there can be no authentic connection. Give me a tender word, a warm embrace, a true friend and big hug any day over a phone full of apps or millions of pixels bombarding my eyeballs!

But more than this there is a love which so deep and so enduring it is able to connect the human heart with the heart of the Living God. That is the love we know in Jesus Christ. If human ingenuity can connect our divided world through communication technology; how much more deeply and substantially can the Spirit of God reconcile and unite us through the power of His love in Jesus Christ?

“May the peace of Christ that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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