Issue 36: “The Depth of God’s Love”
Our mission at the Matthew 25 Initiative is to equip and sustain Anglicans serving alongside the vulnerable. The work of justice and mercy is often wondrous and also difficult. Holding beauty, naming pain, and contending for hope is what we do at M25i.
Walter Brueggeman writes, "[A poem] thinks the unthinkable and utters the unutterable." In places of brokenness, where much feels unutterable and unimaginable, we encounter Jesus. Continue with us in reflection and prayer through this series, "For the Soul," as poetry offers us Spirit-soaked imaginations.
Before you begin...
The turning of seasons often brings a mix of relief and challenge. For many families, the return to school means welcome access to meals for the millions of food insecure children in North America, safe spaces, and caring adults after a summer of unsupervised care for vulnerable kids. It can also mean stretched budgets, long supply lists, and the quiet ache of not having enough and accepting whatever quality of schooling is available when educational options simply aren’t there.
In all of it, whether your life is shaped by school rhythms or not, Billy Crockett’s song “The Depth of God’s Love” sings like a steady refrain:
And the depth of God's love
Reaches down, down, down
To where we are
Until we're found, found, found
This love meets us in the excitement of a fresh start and in the strain of making ends meet. It holds the joy of community and the weight of inequities that persist.
As we walk alongside neighbors this season—in classrooms, churches, food lines, and living rooms—may we remember that God’s love is not thin or fleeting. It is deep enough to reach every circumstance, strong enough to carry every burden, and wide enough to embrace every child, parent, and caregiver.
Let us root ourselves here. And from this depth, let us act, speak, and serve.
The Depth of God's Love
by Billy Crockett
With love that lasts, when time has gone
The night can be transformed to dawn
And hatred taught to sing a song of love
A song of God's love
And the depth of God's love
Reaches down, down, down
To where we are
Until we're found, found, found
A quiet word, or none at all
Pursues the heart behind the wall
And to those who wait
With darkness all around
The depth of God's love reaches down
When life surrounds itself with fears
Of loneliness and private tears
Your gentle arms embrace our years with love
The depth of God's love
And the depth of God's love
Reaches down, down, down
To where we are
Until we're found, found, found
A quiet word, or none at all
Pursues the heart behind the wall
And to those who wait
With darkness all around
The depth of God's love reaches down
Love expressed in earthy ways
A sturdy hand, a smiling face
And graceful eyes that see beneath
What others see and seldom reach
God's love exposed in sacrifice
The depth of God's love is Jesus Christ
And the depth of God's love
Reaches down, down, down
To where we are
Until we're found, found, found
A quiet word, or none at all
Pursues the heart behind the wall
And to those who wait
With darkness all around
The depth of God's love reaches down
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