One

Seven Occasional Meditations on Lent #7 One God

One love
One blood
One life

One life
With each other
Sisters Brothers

One life
But we're not the same
We get to Carry each other
Carry each other

Last weekend I decided to run in the mini-marathon, or rather, I was egged on by my wife, and our good friend, Maria. What compelled me to go for it was the thought of being allowed to set foot on that amazing structure of the 25th April Bridge that traverses the Rio Tejo with startling vistas of the city of Lisbon in front of me, than any personal ambition to break records!! At 7.2 km it hardly deserves the term marathon, but it was still a tough old run for me. The neat part of it was that the half-marathoners started and finished at the same place as the mini-marathoners, so you had this awesome experience of puffing and blowing up the finishing straight, as this engine of a man, Haile Gebraselassie, the world record holder, passes you in a whisper like some graceful antelope, having completed the 21 km in the time it took you and the 20,000 other runners to complete 7!!

But out on that bridge the experience was amazing. It was fun being in such a vast crowd of people intent on one goal. It was exhilarating to sense the physical health and strength that God has given. It was awesome to see above wisps of cloud against a blue sky, and below tiny boats on the Tejo, and ahead the sparkling yellows and whites of Lisbon’s waterfront. But most of all there was such a strong sense of the One God. One God over all and around all and underneath.

One God who from time eternal has planned and purposed in Jesus Christ to connect with this world He has made – to communicate, and to live in relationship with ordinary men and women like this crowd of 20,000 mums and dads and brothers and sisters, boyfriends and girlfriends, crossing the bridge with me. And for this to happen, there was the cross and the empty tomb, and the constant knowledge that Jesus Christ is living and alive and will live forever more.

Hallelujah, Jesus is alive

Death has lost its victory

And the grave has been denied

Jesus lives forever

He's alive, He's alive