part 3
But how does this gospel requirement of strange living align with our need for belonging, our need for being at home, and particularly with the gospel assertion that in Christ we no longer are strangers, in Christ we've come home to a circumstance and even to a place where we truly belong?!
Throughout the Hebrew Scripture's witness God keeps addressing (though not always immediately meeting!) the people's need to live on the land, to work on the land and thrive on the land, their absolute requirement for physical provision, as well as for spiritual sustenance. Scope out this New Testament text, too:
Ephesians 2
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
some words from a haunting song (you need to scroll way down the page for the complete lyrics) sung by Linda and Robin Williams:
Don't Let me Come Home a Stranger
As I walked out one evening to breathe the air and soothe my mind
I thought of friends and the home I had and all the things I left behind
CHORUS:
Will there come a time when the memories fade
And pass on with the long, long years?
When the ties no longer bind, Lord save me from this darkest fear:
Don't Let me Come Home a Stranger
I couldn't stand to be a stranger
In this place so far from home, they know my name but they don't know me
They hear my voice, they see my face; but they can lay no claim on me
© Robin Williams, J. Clark
more later. about strangeness and being strangers.
No comments:
Post a Comment
thanks for visiting—peace and hope to all of us!