by Ryan Keating
God doesn’t love you The way a carpenter loves a hammer for smashing parts together to build one more table in Bethlehem; or the way a chess player loves the bishop for accomplishing strategic captures to exploit the rules and rule the board; or the way a musician loves the trumpet for producing a beautiful tune to announce the glorious end of an unresolved symphony. You are an end, human, not just a means; a victory, not just a strategy; not the expense, but the reasons for building a table where we can sit one day in Jerusalem together in conversation that needs no justification. He loves, and therefore the world is, and is in balance between the good of the kingdom plan and the beloved sons and daughters without sacrificing either to a calculation of instrumental usefulness or production value. So let the trumpet sound for those of us who know we play for good in a production without end.
Ryan Keating is a pastor, writer, wine maker, and coffee roaster living on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. His work can be found in various plublications including Ekstasis Magazine, Christian Century, Box, and Miras Dergi, where he is a regular contributor in Turkish and English.