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How High the Moon, How Far God’s Love?

Some of you are old enough to remember the old song “How High the Moon?

Now, the song itself is all about the traditional love between two people, but I think the imagery is good for us to consider in our relationship with God.  I read an article this week about the threat of watered-down Christianity creeping into our culture. (Faith, Nice and Easy by Kenda Creasy Dean, Christian Century, 8/10/10)

 In essence, she said that people are becoming more accustomed to believing these 5 principles as the true meaning of Christianity.

1.                  "A" god exists, and looks over all creation

2.                  God wants people to be nice to each other, as taught in most religions

3.                  Our purpose in life is to seek happiness and personal fulfillment

4.                  God is happy to exist at the fringes of my life until I ask God to become involved

5.                  All good people go to heaven when they die.

This is so easy, no wonder that many people find it comforting! Still- its so easy, what’s the point of developing a deeper, stronger faith if God is that easy?

On the other hand, perhaps its a reaction to the vengeful, ill-tempered God of many fundamentalist preachers.  Many look to Jonathan Edwards as the birth of fundamentalism, and in 1741, Edwards preached his most famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. For me, his most chilling line is: “And you, children, who are unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to bear the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every night?”  What happened to Jesus saying “Let the little children come to me, for to such belongs the kingdom of God”?

How high the moon? Is God’s love as far away as Jonathan  Edwards claims? Is it as casual and noncommittal as people today like to think? The truth is, neither is right, and neither is wrong. As I have said before, its not a matter of “either, or” but a matter of “and”.

God does have the right to turn away from us and God is as close to us as the very air around us. It isn’t a contract, its a relationship, and one bought at a great cost. Jesus lived and died so that we might live eternally.  It is a free gift, and it is not cheap. It cannot be earned by our work and it requires our love, our attention, our faithfulness to become the people God intends us to be.

How high the moon? How far to heaven? As close as love, as near as grace. It does not require fear and anguish in order to scare us into heaven, but it does require faithfulness and gratitude.

Stephen