More on "New Spirituality: life against death" in The Source of Life by Jurgen Moltmann.
The life-giving Spirit must be experienced holistically, with body and soul and all our powers, and must be sought for and experienced in community with other people. That is the promise implicit in being God's image, which is what justifies the expectation of 'the resurrection of the body' and 'the new earth'. 'Through their nature, human beings remain wholly human in soul and body, but through grace they become wholly divine in soul and body,' said Maximus Confessor, the Orthodox church father.
More and more I am coming to appreciate the notion of the whole image of God. This is an image that takes in all of us - at one time and through all time. It is an image grounded in everyday life and in the relationships that make up the day. There in the middle of our daily joy and sadness and the strange mix of people and events that may not be what we would expect or like, there is this overarching image. To know that image, I must be connected to others. To see that image and its glory, I must be in touch with others and be willing to learn from experiences that may be quite contrary to the world as I would anticipate it. In this section, do not think of "divine" as something other than what is. Rather, it would be best for us to think of that which in a way that sets it within the glorious vision of God's Reign - the image of God fully alive: body and soul.
Connection: It is not easy to see the image of God in the other person. Yet, without seeing it in the other, can we be so sure that we see it at all? Take another look.
Creating God, surprise us again within the faces and lives of those around us so that we will begin to experience more and more of the fullness of your image and your Reign. Amen.
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