A Rumour Of God

The mobile phone company, TMN, has an advert currently on the television which uses the song “He’s got the whole world in his hands” playing in the background, while a globe is handed randomly around from one person to the next. It begs the question, well, who is it that has the world in his hands. TMN certainly don’t. They have to share it with Vodafone and TMobile at the very least.

As the shopping malls fill up this month, whether in Lisbon, London or Brussels, God seems to be strangely absent “Strangely” because it is his world, after all, and this holiday is supposed to be a celebration of his son’s arrival into this world of his. Sunday last, we were listening to a programme on Radio Ulster (yes, the Internet can be very useful at times) and the speaker used the phrase “a rumour of God”. And that’s what it sometimes seems like to us. The Vasco da Gama Shopping Centre is gloriously lit up. The canned Christmas carols in the loudspeakers all sound suitably tinselly. And there’s a rumour that God is here also, that all the festivities have something vaguely to do with him. But it seems to be no more than just a passing rumour. A rumour that, well, maybe he hasn’t quite disappeared yet. That God is in here somewhere. Behind the glitter and the tinsel and the piles and piles of TV’s and DVD’s and PSP’s and whatever else are the latest gadget. For most people, both here, and elsewhere in Europe, as they rush around to try and buy the latest things, life seems more like the Pogue's "Fairytale of New York" than "Joy to the World, the Lord has come"

But, He is here. He is here, and He is not silent, if you have ears to hear. I want to make him more than just a rumour. I want this place to resound to the reality, that God lives, that God is here, and that God loves. I want to be what Paul in Second Corinthians calls the “Aroma of Christ”. There’s something unmistakeable about the way that smell communicates – “Did somebody just blow out the candles?” “Oh, no! I forgot to switch the oven off!” “Who was THAT, who just walked by?” You can avert your eyes, be looking at something else at the time. You can try and shut your ears, but it’s very hard to avoid smelling something.

We can’t always be in a position to say a great deal that’s meaningful or clearly communicates what we believe, and we may not be all that visible at the moment. But we can do make sure that we’re “smelling good”, that the richness and freshness of the life of Jesus oozes out of our very pores!!

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ

and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.

For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved

and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death;

to the other, the fragrance of life"