| The Word within the life of the Church brings us the life of Christ, Jesus - the very center of our fellowship together. The word of the gospel makes Christ present. It thrusts through the times of history to us because it carries the promise of his presence in the Spirit and his coming in glory. The gospel is the remembered promise of Christ. Through faith it creates a community of trust made up of equal and free people, who in the real presence of Christ wait for his redeeming future and hasten toward it. In this respect the church is called to life by the world of the gospel and is sustained in tribulations. Its heart beats wherever Christ finds an utterance. Once again Moltmann's imagery causes me to pause and wonder about this grand adventure that is the life of the Church. I know that the reading of scripture can be something we simply move through as part of our life together in worship or education. But it is the power and wonderful promise of life that can and is available to all of us who simply hear the old stories. The gap between those stories and our stories is the power of the Spirit - who brings us into the same fellowship as was in the days of old. In the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we can be and will be surprised and grasped and taken away into the experiences of Christ alive among us. Quite powerful, I would say. Connection: When we can get away from reading the Word literally, we might find that the Word is not in a locked box. It is alive and moving and pulling and always playing with our real, ordinary lives - now. When we hear your Word of Life, O God, you engage us with life that is truly at hand and yet not yet ours to the fullest. We pray for the coming of your Spirit and the unfolding of our lives in you alone. Amen. |
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