On the goodness of Christ

By Allison Ramsey, office manager

As we approach Easter, the anticipation of Jesus’ resurrection, and the joy that it brings, I recall one of our (almost) weekly Eucharist services that we had as synod staff.

Bishop Hofstad was leading the service that week. The text that day talked about seeing the goodness of Christ. So, Bishop Hofstad asked each of us, “What Bible verse most clearly speaks to you about the goodness of Christ?” It was a great question, but I didn’t have an answer.

I was absolutely stumped. I started to feel dumb … that I didn’t know enough of the Bible by heart to answer that question. One Bible verse in the front of my mind lately had been one that we were talking about at my church from Psalm 34:8: “O taste and see that the Lord is good!” It mentions the Lord is good and I like this verse, and especially love to think of it as I am enjoying my evening meal. But, that didn’t speak most clearly to me about the goodness of Christ.

One of our synod staff quickly answered that John 3:16 was the verse for them.

When Bishop Hofstad asked this, I wasn’t aware of how personal this question was. Shortly after our service and staff meeting was over, I was reading the monthly newsletters that come to our office from so many of our congregations. I was just about to put the newsletters in a pile to send off to our synod communicator, when a verse written in large print on the page caught my eye (at least the print seemed large at the time). It was like God wanted to show it to me so that I could see this wonderful gift now: 2 Corinthians 1:20 “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” I now have this verse handwritten on a Post-it note hanging at eye level next to my desk.

What verse speaks to YOU most clearly about the goodness of God? You’ll find this question on our Facebook Page (Southwestern Washington Synod) and on our Soul Café page and I’d love to see you post your answers for us all to read.