Windows On The Soul

In a recent letter, my sister wrote that we had "connected" like never before, during our family grief last year. That unusual expression seemed to tie in with some current readings and sermons about our relationship with Jesus. The Bible writers have certainly struggled to find the words to convey the meaning of this relationship. Jesus almost caused a riot saying that we had to "drink his blood" - very un-kosher ( Jn.6:53-61 ). I think western minds can be some-what mislead by the metaphors of being "born again " ( Jn.3:3-7 ) and being " filled with the Holy Spirit" ( Eph.3:19 , 5:18 ). Our image of birth is of being "separated" from the mother, of becoming an "individual", and "infilling" has connotations of something being poured from one container into another separate container. Even the western concept of marriage seems to have lost the spiritual aspect of " becoming one " ( Mt.19:5,6 ) . But to me,...

Among the many miracles of construction of the human body, is the wonderful structure of bones, muscles, flesh and skin. Without bones, we would be mere blobs of flesh, unable to stand or move. Without flesh and muscles, the bones would collapse into a heap. Although each individual bone is rigid, the skeleton being a jointed structure, is not rigid. It relies on pairs of muscles and sinews connecting pairs of jointed bones, with opposing muscles maintaining perfectly balanced tension. Further, the flesh and skin cover the harsh, hard bones, with the soft, flexible, cuddly exterior to the world. Paul's analogy of the body to the church, in many ways also applies to our individual spiritual "bodies". We must have a skeleton of doctrine, rigid in part, but jointed and movable, kept strong and in balance by the paradoxes of Righteousness and Mercy. Then our doctrine must be clothed with the warm, soft, tender "flesh" of love as our face to the external world. --...

"In a time when blood transfusion was unknown, Jesus chose the perplexing figure of drinking His blood. Ever since, Christians have wrestled with the theology of the Eucharist. Who can describe the process by which Christ's body and blood become part of my own? We are brought near to Him; we participate in Him; He feeds us - any of these phrases only hint at the mystery. Jesus used the analogy of branches attached to a vine. The more contemporary metaphor of blood transfusion opens the way for me to grasp the intended meaning. The communion service reminds me that Christ is not dead and removed from me, but alive and present in me. Every cell in His Body (the Church) is linked, unified, and bathed by the nutrients of a common source - blood feeds life. The infusion of fresh blood also helps explain the process of cleansing. I focus on the toxins accumulating in scattered cells of my body and the happy relief that comes when blood washes away those poisons. And f...

What a paradoxical metaphor Peter uses ( 1 Ptr.2:4-5 ) - "Living Stones"! "Stones" conjures thoughts of hardness, solidness, deadness: the very antithesis of "Living". Yet in the hands of God, the master builder, the passive "stone" is chosen and fitted into the correct place in the building of His spiritual temple.  Just as Jesus " the living stone rejected by man as worthless but chosen by God as valuable " submitted to God's plan, right to the cross and the grave, so we are called to obedience. Just as no two stones are exactly the same, so we all have our own shape and niche into which we fit - to one the door-step, to another the lintel, another the underground foundation, yet another the carved capping stone.  Then in the beauty of the whole, the very stones "will proclaim the wonderful acts of God". ----xxxXxxx---- Ps.118:22 "The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most...