Click here for link to Luke 7:11-17
Dear Friends,
This
week we are back into the bread and butter basics of the gospel. We
have celebrated the Resurrection and its aftermath. The Ascension, Pentecost
and Trinity Sunday are receding in our rearview mirror. With this week’s gospel, we return to the familiar round of Christ’s sermons,
parables and miracles. And therein lies both danger and opportunity.
The opportunity is obvious. By annually cycling through different perspectives on Christ’s
ministry, we keep fresh the constant refrains of Christianity: God loves us.
Christ’s life, death and resurrection are the ultimate expression of that love.
In Christ we are saved and we are called to do God’s work in the world. In
preliterate times these concepts were illustrated in statuary and stained
glass, manuscript illuminations and feast day dramatics.
Our own
post-literate times pose a completely different set of dynamics. Even
when delivered by a stem-winding preacher, the Sunday sermon from the pulpit is
launched into a totally transformed world. The
congregants are fewer. The
competition for their attention is far greater. Especially with the young, a
verbal account of Christ’s miracles must compete for top-of-the-mind attention
with the seemingly miraculous, computer-animated adventures of the
Transformers, Iron Man and the Power Rangers. And it’s not just the
whiz-bang graphics that pre-empt reality; it’s the sex, violence and trashy
values that come along for the ride. Doubtless, with the pace of technology, we
ain’t seen nothing yet.
But while some things change at a blinding pace, other
things remain constant. The world, the
flesh and the devil are still our ravenous adversaries. Rebellious pride packaged
in trendy, politically correct form is as corrosive as ever. But Christians
have met this all before, in century after century. In the blood of martyrs, in the inspiration of evangelists, in the
unsung service of countless parish families and in the stolid resolve of
individual Christians, the love of Christ has triumphed …and will triumph again. And that’s a miracle. Two
thousand years after Christ breathed life back into a corpse, the Body of
Christ, while constantly under siege, is alive and well and flourishing in
unexpected and exciting ways. Old media,
old models fail us. But they do not define the church of Christ. The single
most effective medium to spread the gospel is the individual Christian, living
and witnessing the love of Christ.
As long
as we live in his love, Christ is here to breathe new life into us. . . which
brings us back to this week’s reading. Look around you, the young man that
Jesus raised from the dead is not here. He’s been in the grave for almost two
thousand years. The same is true for the lame, the lepers, the blind and the
deaf… all those that Jesus healed. Restoring earthly life or improving physical
health was never Christ’s mission. He’s
not the Mayo Clinic, a magician or a Marvel Comic hero. He is the way, the
truth and the life. And we that believe in him will never know death. That’s
the only miracle that counts.
God love you!
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