Body

What if we are the ones the dead have been waiting for?

I am not sure I understand but if Jesus is supposed to come back, but the Church is the body of Christ then could it be that we are the ones the dead have been waiting for?

Are we the ones who are charged with embodying Christ in such a way that the kingdom of God (culture of God) will be made known? Why do we stand looking up to the heavens waiting for a superman/Jesus hybrid to "save" us?

It seems like God has more faith in humanity than humanity has in itself. Christ had no plan "B" as it were. He entrusted and had faith in the disciples to continue on.

What if the body of Christ is already here for the second time? What if the body of Christ is here and now?

Fetal cells, the Church and Christ


Recently I listened to a podcast from RadioLabs that addressed the fact that a mother will carry in her body cells of the children she bore for several decades. That is to say that a mother will carry within her body foreign cells in which her antibodies do not attack.

And the thing is, we are not sure why these cells remain in the mother’s body at all.

RadioLabs goes on to speak with researchers in this area and the complexity of why these cells are there and what they actually do to the mother’s body I will leave for you to hear from the source.

What came into my head was a question – If you give birth to an idea or a cause, then will there always be your “cells” roaming around the idea/cause even after you have jettison? And if so, then how long can your “cells” remain in that idea/cause?

How long are the “cells” of the church able to move through the body of Christ? 

I am the vine you are the branches

My wife preached on mothers day this year and she was given the text in John where Jesus says "I am the vine and you are the branches".

She found something I wanted to note here for discussion.

Jesus uses a lot of imagery relating to agriculture: seeds, farmers, soil, vines, etc. While Paul uses a lot of imagery related to "body": Christ is the head of the church, we are the body of Christ, one body many members, etc. There is a very interesting difference between these two images of Jesus and Paul and American Christianity seems to favor Paul.

I am not sure what sort of vine/branch Jesus is talking about, and I am not a vine/branch expert but I have seen a few vines in my day. And in seeing these vines it was brought to my attention by Estee's research that it is very difficult to differentiate vines from branches. They are entangled and interwoven with each other to create a 'oneness'. So what is the difference between the vine and branches, that is to say, how can you tell the two apart? According to Jesus, you should not be able to see a difference at all.

Paul uses this idea of different parts of the same body. There are hands, and feet and eyes, and mouths which are all on the body but all are different and separated by space and function/purpose and physical make up. Paul uses this image which in some ways argues that we are not keep our individuality and use it for the body. But the image of Jesus is that we are to "die to oneself" we are to "abide" we are to become entangled with one another that we no longer are 'individuals' but we are all ONE.

A slight difference but an interesting one.

It is part of the American psyche of this rugged individualism and self reliance. It is an idea that is very Pauline, but I am not sure it is very Jesus-ish (Jesusian? Jesusine? What is the right word there?).

I am not sure what I am getting at other than I think it is interesting to consider the differences there and meditate on them.

Am I willing to give up my individualism for the sake of the whole? Or am I more libertarian and feel the individual is more important than the whole? What does Jesus say to all that?

Spiritual breathing

My last seminary paper which I turned in today, was on the topic "The Biblical Spirituality of Breathing". Although the paper is longer than I would post on this blog I did want to share some of what I learned.

Both humans and God breath. The difference is God's breath does much more than the breath of humans.

Like God, humanity breaths to sustain life. If God stopped breathing, so would we. But God's breath does much more than just sustain life. Perhaps this is what is meant that humanity has a divine spark within them. We have the ability to breath but only just a spark of the way God breaths.

God's breath is found in the creation of the world (Genesis 1, 2:7 and Psalms 33:6) and in the salvation of Israel by holding back the waters of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21 and 15:10).

To describe God as one who breathes is a statement of faith in that idols of clay, stone or iron do not have the ability to breath (Habakkuk 2:19, Psalm 135:15-18) Perhaps my favorite scripture on this aspect comes to us from Jeremiah 10:14 which states; "Everyone is stupid and without knowledge; goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols; for their images are false, and there is no breath in them."

The breath of God also judges people as in Isaiah 11:4 and Revelation 19:15.

And of course God is prophetic in breath such as in Ezekiel 37 to the dry bones and the Risen Christ who breathes the Holy Spirit to the Disciples in John 20.

I know that humans are not God. But at the same breath I am not sure I can totally affirm that God is totally and wholly other because we are made in the image of God. I know individual humans do not have the ability to encompass all the characteristics of God's breath, though I think some individuals are able to breath fuller than others.

But my question is this, "Can the Church as a collective body, breathe with all the characteristics of God's breath?"