There’s nothing quite as beautiful as a bridge.

When Nancy and I celebrated our 20th anniversary last spring, we spent a long weekend in San Francisco. Excited about taking a cruise on the bay, we went down to Fisherman’s Wharf and hopped on a tour boat. Unfortunately, the bay was completely shrouded in fog.

As the tour began, the recording over the loudspeaker said, “Look to the left at the San Francisco skyline.” “Look to the right at Alcatraz, the Rock.” What did we see? Nothing. A sea of white. Nothing but fog. I was really showing Nancy a great time!

But then, 10 minutes into the tour, the fog lifted and we saw it: The Golden Gate Bridge. What masterpiece of suspension bridge engineering. It’s a piece of structural artwork every bit as impressive as a soaring skyscraper or a cavernous cathedral. But what I find to be unique about a bridge is that it forms a link, reaching across a body of water to draw together two distinct places.

Because it creates a connection, there is something special about a suspension bridge.

According to Duke engineering professor Henry Petroski, designers of bridges have always been trying to push the limits and span ever increasing distances. In his book Pushing the Limits, he tells the story of the construction of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, built in the early 1920s to link Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey. At the time, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, and it required cables of unprecedented size, 30 inches in diameter. But then, in the 1930s, even longer bridges were built, including the Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge. Today, the longest bridge in the world is in Japan, with a main span of 6,532 feet, almost four times the length of the Benjamin Franklin.

Because people love to reach across water and establish a link, there will always be a hunger to build immense bridges around the world. One current dream is to construct an intercontinental connection across the Strait of Gibraltar. Can you imagine it? Europe to Africa, by bridge. Planners are calling for a structure that would stand 3000 feet tall and dwarf any existing bridge in height and length. Driving from Spain to Morocco, you’d cross a full seven miles of water. (Al Rossiter, Jr., “In Big Structures, the Title of ‘Greatest’ Doesn’t Last Long,” Duke News Release, December 20, 2004, http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/news/petroski_1204.html)

What’s true in construction is equally true in Christianity – there’s something beautiful about a bridge. For thousands of years, the gulf between God and humanity was as deep and wide and turbulent as the body of water separating Europe from Africa. People would try to reach across this barrier through acts of worship and sacrifice and personal purification, but they would always fall short. Our human sins and shortcomings would always prevent us from establishing a close and lasting connection with God, a situation that Paul addresses when he stresses to the Romans that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). All have sinned. All have fallen short. All have been prevented, by sin, from connecting with God. It has kept us from bridging the gap.

Then God pushed the limits and sent his own son to serve as a suspension bridge. Across the raging waters of our failures, our weaknesses, and our acts of disobedience came a savior – sent by God to create a link between himself and humanity. We didn’t design this bridge. We didn’t finance it. We didn’t build it. We certainly don’t deserve it.

But God builds it for us, and simply asks that we drive across it.

This suspension bridge is a free gift to all who want an everlasting connection with God. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,” says Jesus, “so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16). There’s no charge for this bridge, no toll to drive across it. All you have to do is believe that Jesus is the link between you and Almighty God.

What we’ve been given is a bridge over troubled water. In fact, our human nature is a lot like the waters of the Golden Gate – an area known for its persistently foggy weather, 60-mile-per-hour winds, and strong ocean currents. Before its completion in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge was thought to be impossible to build, and even today it is known as “the bridge that couldn’t be built.” But constructed it was, at a cost of $35 million and 11 human lives. Building an impossible bridge sometimes involves a human cost. That’s precisely why, while we still were sinners, that Christ died for us … died for us on the cross (Romans 5:8).

The Golden Gate Bridge is still standing strong today, although it can sway 27 feet as it receives wind blasts of up to 100 miles per hour. I tried not to think about that as we took a bus ride across. And Jesus our Savior is still standing strong, in the face of hardship, distress, persecution, famine, peril and sword (8:35). Paul writes to the Romans that we are “more than conquerors” through the one who intercedes for us and acts as our bridge to God. “For I am convinced,” writes Paul, “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vv. 37-39).

There’s nothing quite as beautiful as a bridge. Especially one that keeps us connected to God, even when life pushes the limits of our endurance.

The thought that Jesus is our suspension bridge is an especially challenging one today, in a time of terrorist threats, war in Iraq, economic uncertainty. For the most part, we don’t put our faith in Jesus nearly as much as we put our faith in the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the organizations that employ us. We “tend to be control freaks,” writes Richard Rohr in Sojourners Magazine – conservative people “who have a lot to conserve.” This makes us on guard, suspicious, and wary -- with insurance policies on every level. We have fallen into a pattern of fearful living, putting our trust in organizations that promise to protect us. (Richard Rohr, “Fear Itself,” Sojourners Magazine, October 2004, 14)

But what if we were to move from fear to faith? That’s the challenge of crossing the bridge that God has built for us. If we let go of our attachment to the things of this world, we’ll find ourselves feeling much less fearful, and much closer to God.

“Do not fear,” says Jesus, “only believe” (Mark 5:36). I’ve heard it said that Jesus built us a bridge with 2 boards and 3 nails – a bridge called the cross, still one of the strongest bridges in the world. Jesus is inviting us into a relationship with God that is not going to be shattered by terrorism, warfare, job loss or bankruptcy. He is inviting us to walk a bridge that will not collapse when it is battered by national turmoil or personal pain. He is asking us to let go of our grip on the things of this world, so that we can hold tight to the things of God’s world.

The place to begin is by following the example of people who have already crossed this bridge. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was well known for her humility and her love, but she also had a remarkable ability to pull people together in the middle of the most difficult of situations. She formed a culture of true Christian service in the center of a world of devastation and suffering.

According to author Dave Fleming, Mother Teresa had a set of small yellow cards that contained words of wisdom for herself and her community. She called them her “business cards,” and they served as a kind of a guidebook for walking the bridge to God. The cards said:

The fruit of silence is PRAYER.
The fruit of prayer is FAITH.
The fruit of faith is LOVE.
The fruit of love is SERVICE.
The fruit of service is PEACE.

They were simple cards, but they contained an important roadmap for moving ever closer to God. Beginning with silence, Teresa and her colleagues progressed from prayer to faith, from faith to love, from love to service, and from service to peace. What an amazing thing it is to reach the destination called peace … even in the most difficult of situations. (Dave Fleming, “Leadership Wisdom From Unlikely Voices,” Rev. Magazine, September-October 2004, 116).

We all need a bridge – one that stands strong in stormy weather, one that maintains an unbreakable connection with our ultimate destination. We are offered just such a bridge in Jesus, the one who links us to God in the face of any power that threatens to hurt, divide, or destroy us. And we are given a map across this bridge by Christians who have walked it before us, showing us how to move from fear to faith, and from prayer to peace. Any of us who had the pleasure of working with Judy Chambers, throughout her 25 years in the church office, know that she traveled this bridge every day that she worked here. She always did a wonderful job of showing others how to cross this bridge as well.

So let’s begin the journey today, trusting that we are walking the right path. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, as long as we stay on the bridge that has been constructed for us.

It’s a masterpiece of divine engineering, one that links us to God forever. Amen.