Before anything else existed there was Christ with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. He created everything that is…nothing exists that he didn’t make. * All that came to be was alive with his life, and that life was the light of men.**
The coming of the babe in the manger was not the first time Christ entered the world. He has always been there – with the Father, and the story of His love reaching out to man began as long ago as time itself.
At first, God’s love reached out in creation, and His reaching had such enormous power that the firmament burst forth from his fingertips. The sun and moon took their places, and God sprinkled the night with a thousand stars. The waters found their way to their own boundaries and the tides were forever set. Fishes and creatures of the deep found their paths in the sea.
And God went on reaching, and dry land appeared, buds burst forth. Then came fields and grasses, hills and plains. Heartbeats of animals and all living creatures throbbed at the touch of God’s reaching.
Photo by Angela Kellogg
Even yet, Love, longing for someone to whom to give itself, was not satisfied, for love needs someone to receive. So God reached further and made a man.
But man did not understand. He took for granted the marvelous order and beauty that surrounded him. He didn’t see that all the things God’s love had created were a result of God reaching out to him. Instead of returning God’s love in gratitude by treasuring nature’s resources, man selfishly used, wasted and prostituted creation, blindly failing to recognize that it was all intended to be the lovely backdrop for abundant life.
Still, love went on reaching. It was God’s reaching that caused Him to put a special value on the human person, that caused God to make man only a little lower than the angels, that gave man the treasure of being able to think and reason, to question and learn – to laugh and cry, to weep and rejoice.
But man misused this gift, distorted and wasted his thinking, perverted his emotions, violated his sensitivities to the feelings of others, and even used his mind to formulate theories arguing that he, himself, was the god of the universe and that his own mind had invented all things.
Still love went on reaching. It was God’s reaching in love that built safeguards into the universe so this man wouldn’t destroy himself. They were simple, timeless guidelines for freedom and joy. But man called them bondage, fetters, chains. He simply didn’t understand that the law was love’s safe harbor for his protection from the storms of himself.
Right from the beginning, God’s love has reached, and from the beginning, man has refused to understand. But love went on reaching, risking rejection, offering itself.
Love offered the eternal; we wanted the immediate. Love offered deep joy; we wanted thrills. Love offered freedom, we wanted license. Love offered communion with God Himself; we wanted worship at the shrine of our minds. Love offered peace; we wanted approval for our wars.
Even yet, love went on reaching…and the word of the Father became Mary’s little son, and his love reached all the way to where I was.
His Love…Reaching
Love has always been here,
In the chaos of our world;
It was the Word that echoed through the formless void--
And whether in the universe or worlds of our own minds,
It’s love that turns our chaos into joy.
The Word that formed creation
Man just couldn’t understand,
Its sound was muffled by our wars and strifes;
And man destroyed resources God intended just to be
The lovely backdrop for abundant life.
And so this great Creator
Who’d been reaching all along,
This God who formed the worlds with His own hands,
Made Love become a Baby, one of our very own,
And spoke His Word so we could understand.
His love, went on longing,
His love went on reaching
Right past the shackles of my mind;
And the Word of the Father became Mary’s little Son,
And His love reached all the way to where I was.
* John 1:1-3, LB
** John 1:4-5 NEB
Taken from the musical His Love...Reaching,
Words by Gloria Gaither; Music by William J. Gaither
Copyright © 1975 Hanna Street Music (BMI) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
