london bridge
On an early morning during Thanksgiving week, we wove into our London vacation a photo shoot for all of our Christmas cards. It was one of those perfect days: no fog, no rain, slightly nippy but not frigid. We managed to get everyone dressed and made up, and we congenially wended our way to the corner of St James’s Park, where we were to meet our photographer, Hector. Our request was that he capture some quintessentially London scenes. We walked from formal looking court buildings to a small, quaint, London street, to a red telephone box with Big Ben in the background.
We still had time in our hour and half session to go to one more location, so Hector walked us out onto a bridge with the Parliament Building in the background. You can see the bridge from the top of the London Eye Ferris wheel. It’s a busy enough bridge at ten in the morning, with a steady stream of taxis, busses, cars, bikes and pedestrians. Hector explained that there would be a break in the traffic at some point, and we needed to be ready to run out into the street, grasp hands and walk toward him. As I relate this, it really sounds insane that we took our whole family out into a busy and active London street. I mean, what could go wrong? Fortunately, Hector got us all back onto the sidewalk alive.
The bridge is a time-honored and interesting metaphor for Christ. Campus Crusade for Christ (or Cru, as it is currently known) has long talked about the chasm between us and God, and our need for a savior to bridge that chasm. Jesus is that bridge between perfect God and imperfect, sullied humanity. Jesus came “while we were still sinners” and died to be the bridge back to God. But he’s not just the bridge to the destination…Jesus is the destination itself, because he is God. John Stott wrote in “Basic Christianity”: “[Jesus] was not just another signpost, but the destination to which the signposts had led.”
Stepping out into the traffic lanes of that busy bridge in London was an act of faith in Hector. But stepping onto the Jesus bridge is the beginning of a faith journey that can last a lifetime and end up in eternal freedom, love and security. Stepping out on that London bridge was a scary and maybe foolhardy thing to do. But stepping onto the Jesus bridge is the sanest and safest thing that I have ever done. Not that Jesus is safe. As CS Lewis said of the Christ-lion Aslan in his Narnia stories, “Safe?....Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”
Our journey may be full of difficult days. The bridge will hold, and the destination is sure, thanks be to that goodness!
Merry Christmas!
Love, Liz
It is not that [Jesus is] the best of men, but that [he is] good—good with the absolute goodness of God.” John R.W. Stott
