14 November 2006

The body of Christ as the new human being - Bonhoeffer.

The church is one. All who are baptized are "one in Christ" (Galatians 3:29; Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 10:17). The church is "the human being per se." It is the "new human being". As such, the church was created through Christ's death on the cross. Here the hostility between Jews and Gentiles which had torn humanity apart is abolished, "in order that he might create in himself one new human being in place of the two thus making peace" (Ephesians 2:15). The "new human being" is one, not many. Outside of the church, which is this new human being, there is only the old, internally divided human being.

The new human being is one, not many...the church is one. What is it that makes us one? We say the Christ of God, Jesus. In Christ we are one. Now, consider who is a part of the "one." All of us - even those who sit on the other side of the fence from us...the ones we don't want to deal with and the ones who want nothing to do with us. Therefore, we must continually give up our image of who we are as the church and always go back to the Christ. In a world and a church setting in which we fight over who cannot be a part of us it is as though we have abandoned the work of the Christ for our own agendas that include and exclude according to our own vision. Walter Wink writes of the 'son of man' and calls that biblical character/image the "new human being" or simply the "Human Being." When our humanity comes to its fullest as we see in the story of Jesus, the day of the Lord's coming is at hand and is already present. The church as the new human being takes the risk to live in the shape of the one we follow. This is for me a blended situation. It is blended in that it demands balance between the grace of God and the law. One helps to stretch us out to the vast openness of the Reign of God and the other is very realistic as to what we will do in such situations and therefore there will be guides that give us all some protection and some way to move as gracious people in a very ungracious world.

Connection: Into the body of Christ we have been pulled by the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit pulled the followers of Jesus in the Book of Acts beyond the places in which they were settled, so to will this Spirit of our Lord pull us into new adventures today - that is meant to be a promise not a threat.

As you make us new, O God, make us bold and make us loving and make open to the the vision of your peace that allows your body to grow and flourish and be a witness to your Reign in all of our days. Amen.