The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. (Deuteronomy 28:12)
I have a precious little poodle mix named Lucy. She is a great companion, weighing in at about 8 pounds and is the sweetest, most loving dog in the world. Her love is greatly reciprocated. She most definitely knows that I am her person. I really wouldn’t ever have to have her on a leash, (she’s always underfoot) but since she really has no concept of what a car is, she is always leashed when we go on walks. When we get home, however, and enter our condo building, she knows that the leash is about to come off. I live at the end of a long hallway and when we turn the corner to begin the walk down to our unit, I unhook Lucy‘s leash and she tears down to our door. Since she’s hauling buns all the way down the hall, she’s moving much faster than me, so then she runs back and forth between me and our door several times before I get there. She is “unleashed” and running free! It’s so fun to watch.
It makes me wonder what it would be like to watch God “unleashed“ in the world.
What would that look like?
Would we picture God’s divine self blowing out the spirit of grace all over our state, country or world? Would we picture Jesus with the palm fronds shaking the water off them from the sea of Galilee all over the crowd?
Would we picture God with one expansive swoop of God’s hand raining down love on us all?
Would we picture Christ proclaiming God’s justice and mercy to the millions that had come to listen?
Would we picture a moment in time where God captivated and permeated every search engine and social media outlet to spread God‘s message of Agape love to us all?
God unleashed!
Though those images exist in our imagination only, it’s interesting to think what God “unleashed” might look like. The truth of the matter is that the truest image of God’s ability to be unleashed is found in your mirror. We must do the unleashing. Christ came to spread the message of God’s love to all. As his disciples, we have held that message dear to our hearts for over 2000 years. My friends, if ever there was a time to let go of that message– to shout, spread and “unleash” God to whomever we can in whatever way we can– it is now. The world needs God’s love to be “unleashed” within us all and we are God’s vessels to do it.
Rev. Leslie Denney Etheredge
Western Regional Minister
Florida Conference of the UCC
Prayer Focus: We are God’s hands and feet and voice on earth.
Prayer: Gracious God, embolden us to unleash your message and your love in everything we say and do. The time is NOW. Don’t let us wait any longer! Amen.