There have been a few quotes from G K Chesterton in sermons recently. Here’s a chance to reflect on them a little more.
Janette Battye quoted this one recently to show God’s playfulness and delight – as an encouragement for us to stay childlike.
Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.
And then I used this quote to encourage us this week that no matter how ‘dead’ things appear, we worship a God of resurrection:
Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.
Finally, this is one of my favourites as it challenges our tendency towards ‘either-or’ binary thinking. We have to learn ‘both-and’ thinking that can hold together two seeming opposites, like pain and hope, grief and joy, faith and works etc.
Christianity got over the difficulty of combining furious opposites, by keeping them both, and keeping them both furious.
Clearly, we can still learn from our fathers who, though they are dead, yet they speak!
Furious opposites… what a thought, and to have the insight that they can be held together – amazing !
Was it GK Chesterton who spoke about God’s furious love as well? What a guy!