You’re my rescuer

At last nights worship event ‘Encounter’ in Cambourne Church (a local ecumenical partnership church which I am a member) I had the treat of being the artist who seeks to paint something that would bring words from God’s heart to ours.

All I could think about and paint was ‘a saving’ of a person in the seas (yes I know I love sea scapes at the moment) rescued by a person in a boat.

Sophie Smith who was at the event wrote this poem while reflecting on the painting:

You reached out from the boat

Arm outstretched towards me

Handholding fast to mine

And pulled me

Away from terror and despair

Into salvation

You held me close

Arms wrapped around me

Heart full of hope for me

And loved me

Out of sin and darkness

Into redemption

The painting is all about being saved. It’s what Jesus does and his raison d’être for the cosmos. Saving.

So. Have you been saved by Jesus?

It’s a question you don’t hear quite so often and one that may be associated with zealous door knockers using the language of the past with people who don’t understand what ‘saving’ means and what for.This is what I mean by saving: At the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. Jesus saves us by taking that which taints, separates and spoils our relationship with almighty God. He takes all that, freely placing upon it himself as a sacrifice for you and me. ‘Jesus died for you’ my sister told me when I was 17 and that absurd phrase rang around my mind until with tears I accepted that I too really was worthy of saving and needed rescuing.

Have a look at the rescuer in the boat. Notice his crown if thorns. Notice the cross of the mast and the crosses in the sky. The gift of the cross of Christ is the gift of being rescued.