For those of you who attend the congregation I pastor, you've heard this little expression several times over the past few weeks. "Connecting Community and Christ." Over the next several posts, I will be drawing a little bit more out about what we mean, and what we think about, as we hear these words, and as we also think about what they mean for our lives together in Christ Jesus.
One of the greatest realities we have in our lives is that God is a God who seeks to connect with the people of this world. In some ways, this makes a great deal of sense. God is the creator of all things, and that includes all of us human beings. Sure, we know the biological process that takes place to create a new human being, but we are unable to understand or duplicate that miracle. God creates us, even when our essence is not anything more than two cells whose DNA is incomplete, and which only finds its being when the two connect together.
God connects with His human creation. He gives everything that is needed to sustain His human creation. This is, in fact, part of what we believe as Christians. Martin Luther understood this and put it into a fairly simple, understandable way in his description of the first part of the Apostles Creed. There, we state that we believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in explaining what that means, we hear that God has created us and given us everything that is pertinent for our lives.
God seeks to connect with His human creation because it is unique. God took special care when it came to the creation of humans. We are the only beings God made that He personally formed, and we're the only beings that have both a physical and a spiritual nature. God created humans out of the dust of the earth, and then breathed His own spirit/breath/wind into the man to have him become a living being. From the beginning of the creation, God sought to connect with His creation.
In a sense, this gives us as Christians a wonderful opportunity to connect with others. If we are looking for a starting point to introduce the God of the Bible, we can point them to the God who sees enough worth and value in them to give them all that is needed for their lives. We can point to the loving care of God, who provides enough for the people of the world. We can point to the God who knows them as their Creator. We can point them to the God who made them special, unique from the rest of the known world.
That's part of connecting and community. We are a community of people because God made us as such. We are connected with God, who gives us all good things in life. And even in these things, God gives us a means by which we can connect with our brothers and sisters in the human population of the world. Thanks be to God.
One of the greatest realities we have in our lives is that God is a God who seeks to connect with the people of this world. In some ways, this makes a great deal of sense. God is the creator of all things, and that includes all of us human beings. Sure, we know the biological process that takes place to create a new human being, but we are unable to understand or duplicate that miracle. God creates us, even when our essence is not anything more than two cells whose DNA is incomplete, and which only finds its being when the two connect together.
God connects with His human creation. He gives everything that is needed to sustain His human creation. This is, in fact, part of what we believe as Christians. Martin Luther understood this and put it into a fairly simple, understandable way in his description of the first part of the Apostles Creed. There, we state that we believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in explaining what that means, we hear that God has created us and given us everything that is pertinent for our lives.
God seeks to connect with His human creation because it is unique. God took special care when it came to the creation of humans. We are the only beings God made that He personally formed, and we're the only beings that have both a physical and a spiritual nature. God created humans out of the dust of the earth, and then breathed His own spirit/breath/wind into the man to have him become a living being. From the beginning of the creation, God sought to connect with His creation.
In a sense, this gives us as Christians a wonderful opportunity to connect with others. If we are looking for a starting point to introduce the God of the Bible, we can point them to the God who sees enough worth and value in them to give them all that is needed for their lives. We can point to the loving care of God, who provides enough for the people of the world. We can point to the God who knows them as their Creator. We can point them to the God who made them special, unique from the rest of the known world.
That's part of connecting and community. We are a community of people because God made us as such. We are connected with God, who gives us all good things in life. And even in these things, God gives us a means by which we can connect with our brothers and sisters in the human population of the world. Thanks be to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment