It is Wednesday of Holy Week and we at Garrett-Evangelical are looking out into the world through the Gethsemane Window. At first glance in looking at this slide, one might say, “The Cross is in the way; I cannot see the detail of the window.” Perhaps it is the cross that is, in fact, the detail of the Gethsemane experience.
Christ is depicted in this window with his arms spread wide, welcoming into himself all that God has to give him. These arms will soon be spread wide again to receive all that the world has to offer him. And the words on Christ’s lips are these:
“Not my will, but thine be done.”
In some sense, we find ourselves in the same garden. We open our hearts to hear God’s word to us, wanting desperately for God to bless us. Yet, the garden experience is twofold; we must also be open to the world in which we live, and be willing to accept the Cup that is offered to us even when that Cup does not immediately appear to be a blessing.
Look carefully, and you will see the angel holding a chalice, a cup, an offering from God. The Disciples whom Jesus has invited to accompany him into this garden of prayer have fallen sound asleep. But above in the other two corners are two angels who will not give up the watch. So, we at Garrett-Evangelical make our commitment as we look out through Gethsemane that we will continue to keep watch and to pray for the world that Jesus loved and gave his life for.
These words from the third chapter of John can well frame our prayer:
“16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
By Al Caldwell, Retired Faculty, editor
