“ Wrapped In Love”

John 3:16-21

I recently received E-mail from friends. The mail contained 23 pictures of babies and young children. These children were wrapped in blankets, in parent's arms, or next to a large dog. Each one appeared to be wrapped in love . As I thought about those pictures, I was reminded of God's love, which came wrapped in the Babe of Bethlehem, who grew to be wrapped with pain and death upon the cross.

We have read the story so many times, but it never grows old. Jesus with outstretched arms, was saying, as He wrapped the world there at Calvary, This is how much I love you . When we become wrapped in the heat and humidity of the day; wrapped in pain and discomfort; wrapped in sadness and feeling alone, that is when God wraps us in His grace and unconditional love.

As we read the Gospels, we see Jesus crossed all kinds of traditional barriers to talk with tax collectors, sinners, non-Jews, people of mixed races, the poor, as well as the rich. He came to identify with each of us, and to pay the price on the cross for our sins. God has wrapped us in eternal love, for even when a sparrow falls to the ground, the Father takes note of it.

There is an old Peanuts cartoon, which shows Charlie Brown, who has been identified with the underdog. In one scene he was building a birdhouse when cynical Lucy came by. I'm building it for sparrows, Charlie told her. Lucy said, For sparrows? Nobody builds birdhouses for sparrows. I do, replied Charlie. I always stick up for the underbird. That is a picture of our Lord.

Lord, help me to love the way that You love

The humble, the lowly, the meek;

And help me to care the way that You care

For sinners, the outcasts, the weak.

- Fitzhugh

I read this one recently, and pass it along to you: Nobody wins when we play favorites.

God bless you members and friends of Bacon Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Rev. Robert W. Peck, Th.D.
Interim Pastor