QUILTED LOVE, QUILTED PROMISES

Last night Larry gave the evening devotional at the European Theology Teacher's Convention, a gathering of 70 really, really serious thinkers who make up the core of the academic theological training in Seventh-day Adventist colleges and universities across Europe.  They've come to the campus of Middle East University to challenge each other with understanding and sharing "The Translatable Gospel."  

Instead Larry told them about The Quilt.   It's made up of ninety squares of embroidered, appliqued, buttoned, painted, penned, glued, quilted, ironed-on personal expressions from Village Church members we've left behind in Michigan.  It is big enough to hold years of memories and strong enough to hold tons of love.

I wish I could tell you about every single square:  Who made it.  What they've alluded to in their little piece.   The messages we hear and the love we feel.  

I wish I could share all the memories that each represents.  It took me a couple of days to make sure I'd seen and digested every square.  I know some tell stories no one could ever put in words. 

I wish I could tell you about the people who made the squares.  The personalities.  The families.  The histories.  The needs.  The victories.

But also I wish I could tell you about those who may not have had the inclination to express their care in a quilt or the creativity to produce a quilt square that they thought was adequate.  But they are just as precious to us.  Their love is also stitched into The Quilt.   

That's because, like a church body, The Quilt is a composite of many parts--all different, each unique.   Everyone could've each given us a square to stack on our dining room table--and then pack away in a box.  Ninety separate families.  Ninety different messages.   But all the parts together add up to much more...  They make a blanket large enough to keep us warm!  They create a single, united message of love.  

Appreciating Shannon's and Merna's persistence and energy in bringing
together quilt pieces AND people

So, when I  "read between the stitches" of all of them together--

* I see memories of working and worshipping with friends.   Of spiritual blessings that have been greater because they were shared together.  Of a spiritual family that our hearts will never leave.

* I see memories of how carefully and kindly God has led the whole Village Church along.  Over and over, after watching Him work in His inimitable way, I have come to only one conclusion:  This body of believers is surely "the apple of His eye."

* I see memories of what may have looked messy from the outside but what underneath was understandable, purposeful and even the process God used to grow His Village Church stronger.

* I see memories of truly difficult times.  Like parents who are endeared to the challenging child  simply because of the journey they've shared, our hearts are endeared to our Village family by the hardest of times, because we see in retrospect even more of God's love and leading through it all.  He has bound us more closely together as we've experienced the victories He's brought in the trials.

* I see memories of His grace.  It is enough to say that each square is a testimony to the miracle that happens when we draw closer to Jesus:  We find ourselves much, much  closer to one another.  Isn't it because in seeing Him we realize how much we're all in need His grace-giving love.

That--and much, much more--is the messaged stitched into The Quilt.

Enjoying the warmth together!

But...back to the auditorium of professors waiting for some profound theological insight Larry might give them about the translatability of the gospel into other cultures.

Instead, Larry told them about The Quilt. In particular, he described the square in the fourth row up from the bottom, second column from the left has meant to us.   It is a simple  marker-sketch of a little cedar tree surrounded by a carefully handwritten Bible verse:

In a very short time, 

will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field,

and the fertile field seem like a forest?

Isaiah 29:17

Tears caught in our throats when we read it.  Among all the warm memories of those we've shared so much with, here was a picture of our future:  This is what God says He's able to do (v. 17) for Lebanon!  And it didn't take long for us to learn that His assurance comes as He points out the human tendency to do things on our own (v. 15, 16).

Now the quilt square is signed by Tom, Fe, Tristan & Alden.  They've only been part of Village Church for a short time.  Their Village memories aren't that long.  But they've sent us ahead with not just a longterm promise, but a reminder to let God do what only God can do:     Where there is nothing that appears to be growing, He can make a fertile field that is as lush and productive as a forest.  And He can do it in a very short time.

You don't have to be in Lebanon long to know there is one forest that is distinctly Lebanese and the pride of every countryman.  The cedars of Lebanon symbolize the country's rich heritage and resources.   Seedlings are planted with forethought and care.  Every cedar is protected by law.   That's because a cedar takes hundreds of years to grow.  No legislation, no planting program or protection can change nature's timeline.

But God is not bound by the natural order of things.  Or the norms.  He can break the records.
Dismiss the expectations.  Cut short the growing season.  Produce unusual results.  It is up to Him.  It's His call and His performance.  He can do amazing things in a very short time, with very limited resources, with very weak human beings.  I am soooo grateful.

Whatever lies ahead for us, He is willing to be responsible for what is accomplished.  He knows the end He's working towards.  Because the rest of the story is that "in that day"--in Lebanon, according to the text--the deaf will hear, the eyes of the blind will see, the humble will have joy, the poor will rejoice, justice will prevail (v. 18-21).

With so much in process,  I am willing to wrap myself in the promise of what He will do and accept the little part I have in honoring His name and standing in awe of the God of Israel (v. 23).

Wrapped in quilted promises