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When our son Bob was about three, he learned how to receive a pass.  If you threw the perfectly rotated sponge ball, with a little backspin, he received!  Then later, that same boy was receiving passes in full flight, on grass, on ice…. Seems receiving improves with age!

I guess we’re all natural born receivers.  From our earliest days we receive kisses and caresses, washing, dryings and unctions, hugs and sweets — and maybe the odd tap on the chubby wrist!  You would think that receiving is something that should come naturally.  And so when it comes to ‘receiving Jesus,’ the greatest reception of all, why should it be that big a challenge? 

I’m wondering if maybe it just calls for some ‘soft thinking’ — connecting the dots between all the the receptions that surround us and applying them to ‘the big one!”  Like, for example, why not think like a ‘receptionist? Her primary calling is to provide a welcoming environment.  On the spiritual level, this might mean somehow providing a welcoming environment for the Saviour to enter.  My restaurant and office experiences tell me that the best receptionists show an interest in their visitor.  They stop the busyness long enough to smile and greet and be nice. Your nice quiet church of choice comes to mind!  As one man said, when asked what he missed about church during the pandemic: “I miss the quiet time before service… sacred time.”

Or, we might think like the wide receiver — that fast and elusive and increasingly tall player who provides the perfect target for a forward pass.  This is north American football.  And this is about ‘getting in the clear.’  The great Randy Moss, Super Bowl MVP chalked up all his honours by refining that skill.  Again, when it comes to ‘the greatest reception of all,’ this should not be such a great challenge.  We just need to realise that there a lot of blockers and defensive backs out there whose mission is to impede the delivery of a nice crisp pass.  In this case, the Quarterback is not to blame for an errant pass.   It’s up to the wide receiver to get in the clear and provide a large, visible target.  Of course, fighting your way clear of interference is not easy. There are defensive backs out there, fast and skilled — and who don’t mind grabbing on as you fly by with a holding infraction if they can get away with it!  Even after you catch the pass, they will try to jar it loose and make you wish you had dropped it! 

Fortunately, there is plenty of help out there to help you get in the clear.  The thing is to seek that open space!  The church, the Gospel of John, hearing the gospel — such things turn you into a seeker.  And the promise to seekers is that they will indeed get in the clear — and become ‘finders!’  Receiving the perfect pass could be a lot like being born again.

And what about another pleasure reception, downloading music?  In fact Malcolm Muggeridge described his conversion that way: “No earthly image can convey this adequately; music at its best … gets closer to it than words” (Conversion).  These days you listen to a selection, you hear a song you want, you press the download button.  “Are you sure you want to download ‘The things we do for love?’ —  iTunes will ask you.  “Yes, I’m sure, don’t ask me again.” The receiver is right in your hand!  Imagine!  Ah, your favourite song straight into your earbuds with full orchestration — something one only dreamed of not so long ago!   Better than a concert!  One of life great modern pleasures!  You listen for the right song, you press download — how simple is that?  And imagine receiving Jesus being like the best music download!  He enters your space with the power to calm, to energize, to heal, to elevate.  As a great song puts it, “Oh what transport all divine!”

Then of course you have your smart phone.  How could we possibly omit our ever-present device!  And the pleasure of receiving a call.  You hear the magic sound, you see a pop up name; you select “accept” or you push a little green button.  Connectivity!  It’s magic.  Like right in your ear!  Last time I was on a bus in Singapore, every single person was enjoying this kind of reception.  When it comes to ‘the greatest reception of all,’ why not think in terms of a call waiting?  As the old hymn says, “Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling.”   When you hear that inviting voice, it’s time to press ‘Accept the call.’  And what a promise for those who do!  “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with me.”

Next we think of the radio receiver.  I remember driving the roads of Ontario in my youth and being frustrated when an important ballgame went fuzzy on the car radio because I got ‘out of range.’  Ha, no more!  Goodness, these days you can even have a ‘satellite radio’ which connects you to a live ball game anywhere in the country!  So, you are never ‘out of range!’  This is an amazing concept when it comes to ‘the greatest reception of all.’  You are never out of range of his presence.  As the psalmist says, ‘Even if I dwell in the uttermost parts of sea.… even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:10).  It’s just a matter of tuning in to Him.  In fact, sometimes the more distant you are, the more liable you are to receive the divine signal!  I spent a student summer in Marathon, Ontario, which is about as close to “the uttermost parts of the sea” as one would care to be.  And what a memorable summer it was, myself in my private dorm provided by the pulp and paper mill.  My job was to shovel the bark that built up under the conveyor belts at various junctures and wheelbarrow the loads off to a recycling centre.  Then the late afternoons and evenings were entirely mine.  And the satellite signal was crystal clear, bringing in the “still small voice” with the strongest signal.

But we can’t speak of ‘receiving’ without some receptacles. They sit on a wall and conduct current — just waiting for someone to insert a plug.  And that’s when the magic occurs.  It becomes a conductor of electrical current!  Receptacles are not on the wall for adornment — although it’s nice is we have colour coordination.  It’s about conducting current!  And here’s where our metaphor really packs a jolt!  As Moses discovered, a divine encounter can cause everything to light up!  We’re talking power!  Getting plugged in!  That’s the great promise to receivers. 

Finally, speaking of receptacles, how could we omit the venerable garbage receptacle? In a summer town, after a long week-end, these things can be so full of trash they sit in the Monday morning sun and marinate until they are mercifully emptied, and turned into something like a ‘vessel of honour’ — or at least of an honourable function!   This is what we’re talking about here: dumping the waste and transforming the receptacle! 

If only it was that simple!  Sometimes it seems that the human heart is a bit like the trash receptacles in our National Parks, receptacles which can only be opened from the outside.  These receptacles are bear-proof!  You need the right hand to slide under the covered opening to lift the lid. 

It would be nice if we could do it all ourselves.  Off load our sin. Be sanctified.  But here is where we need God’s grace.  And fortunately it “has no limit!”  We call on Him.  He takes care of the rest.

So where do our metaphors take us?  Maybe what they show us is a childlike simplicity to the greatest transaction of all!  Tuning in, getting in the clear, providing a welcome environment — this is not rocket science.  All that’s really needed is to make a decision.  I will become a seeker.  I will open up my heart.  Once there, you are in exactly the right place.  In the words of Pascal, the great French philosopher, “God hides himself from those who test him, but he reveals himself to those who seek him.”  Or as we hear from the lips of our Lord himself, “Seek and you will find.”