Albania Blog FOUR
The Albania Blog FOUR
You know those trees that grow around the Mediterranean, the one with thin leaves, almost devoid of substance but which can survive arid months of summer heat? They fall to the ground like strips of shredded paper and fill the kerbs and corners, many ending up floating on the edge of the sea.
Today we met some of those leaves they were lying on the shore of the Adriatic Sea on the Albanian Coast; they were piled high between the lapping sea and the sandy shore. As we walked the shore we were faced with the truth that we had a warm sea, an idyllic blue horizon stretching off in sunlit immensity, and a barrier between us and them of these leaves, this natural litter.
All it would take is a man with a rake and a wheel barrow, or better still a small tractor, to lift a few barrow-loads of debris each morning and in a few days the beach and the sea would meet.
It made me think [CAUTION SERMON POINT APPROACHING] of the barriers which build up so quickly between our daily experience and the vastness of God’s mercy. The habits which mess up the time of entering into an encounter with God; the point of view or outlook which faces away from God rather than towards God and make entry to the ocean of his awaiting grace impracticable; the sins which obscure the route to washing and cleansing which those same sins so desperately need.
Life is imperfect, and in every experience there are down sides or faults which impair the perfect work of God. But surely we can see some of the things which make the enjoyment of God for ever (as my good Presbyterian friends confess) more difficult, and take steps by God’s grace to sweep them away.
In some countries where there is no snow, the Bible Translation that uses such a metaphor would not work: instead they read:
“Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as coconut.”
As my first Albanian experience draws to a close with tomorrow’s flight home, the Lord being willing, may we all find ways to eradicate the interruptions that prevent us enjoying the fullness of God’s love.