karen freeinchristman
13th April 2006, 11:21 AM
Sometimes, thank God, the foolish things of this life befuddle our conventional wisdom. The simplest things pull the rug from under the feet of those of us who like to stand proud.
Sometimes the poor show us what it means to be rich. Sometimes the voiceless shout their piece through deafening silence. Sometimes David beats Goliath. Sometimes we find ourselves touched by the untouchable.
The upside-down, inside-out kingdom of God flickers and flashes into life before us. We snatch fleeting glimpses of the now-but-not-yet land to which we belong - caught, as we are, between a world that is passing and a world that is to come.
But we can’t always see for looking - searching for faith as we do among the big names and big Christian gatherings, when, sometimes, the Message prefers to arrive in still smaller voices, through whispers and echoes from the places and people we’re least expecting.
Prepare the way of the Lord, the prophets cried. But even they can’t have been fully prepared for a Saviour who washed the feet of those who would follow in his footsteps, or a God whose star-flinging hands were splintered on a wooden cross.
Bread of heaven: it sticks in the throat. An immeasurable, unquantifiable Creator willingly brought down to Earth like manna and reduced to the status of a metaphor; something to be shared, broken, eaten.
And, in the same way, his very essence distilled into a full-bodied cup of wine, albeit wine for a wedding, the best vintage, saved to the last and drunk at the death.
Take, eat. This is my body.
Take, drink. This is my blood.
Feed on me. And I will turn your world upside down and inside out. Not in the way a genie out of a bottle might do it. Not in the way the rulers of this world do it. Not in the way you may expect.
As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s "weakness".’ Simple. Foolish. Ungodly?
What a way to go.
Brian Draper
London Institute for Contemporary Christianity
:)
Sometimes the poor show us what it means to be rich. Sometimes the voiceless shout their piece through deafening silence. Sometimes David beats Goliath. Sometimes we find ourselves touched by the untouchable.
The upside-down, inside-out kingdom of God flickers and flashes into life before us. We snatch fleeting glimpses of the now-but-not-yet land to which we belong - caught, as we are, between a world that is passing and a world that is to come.
But we can’t always see for looking - searching for faith as we do among the big names and big Christian gatherings, when, sometimes, the Message prefers to arrive in still smaller voices, through whispers and echoes from the places and people we’re least expecting.
Prepare the way of the Lord, the prophets cried. But even they can’t have been fully prepared for a Saviour who washed the feet of those who would follow in his footsteps, or a God whose star-flinging hands were splintered on a wooden cross.
Bread of heaven: it sticks in the throat. An immeasurable, unquantifiable Creator willingly brought down to Earth like manna and reduced to the status of a metaphor; something to be shared, broken, eaten.
And, in the same way, his very essence distilled into a full-bodied cup of wine, albeit wine for a wedding, the best vintage, saved to the last and drunk at the death.
Take, eat. This is my body.
Take, drink. This is my blood.
Feed on me. And I will turn your world upside down and inside out. Not in the way a genie out of a bottle might do it. Not in the way the rulers of this world do it. Not in the way you may expect.
As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s "weakness".’ Simple. Foolish. Ungodly?
What a way to go.
Brian Draper
London Institute for Contemporary Christianity
:)