The Gospel

We can say nothing about the Gospel if we cannot say that it is about God's love for us. But acceptance of such a gospel leads to the realm beyond those words, to the place where listening meets obeying.

We cannot say we believe in God's love for us if we do not live in response to it. The Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ brings God's love to us and invites humanity, it unites the human experience with the divine, into the proclamation of the gospel of God's love. God takes up humanity into a unique relationship with the divine and thus that to which God draws us is more than a calling it is an identity which we may embrace or reject. Therefore our identity, being united with the divine, is one of relationship... relationship with one another in recognition of our unity with God. Since Christ became nothing on the cross we have been drawn to that place where all status is equal and the rich are united with the poor, the thief with the authority, the exalted with the damned. And such is our identity in this place that we should seek to know one another as we should seek to know God.

This calls for depth in relationship, depth beneath the shell of personal space. True relationship, the kind to which we are drawn in Christ, is responsibility to one another. It means knowing one another, seeking to understand one another, loving one another. The Lord's Prayer is a prayer of such a relationship. "...Give US this day our daily bread" is a prayer that cannot be truly prayed by one who does not care about the hungry but stores up food for himself.

I believe that people have chosen disconnect from one another, they have chosen to define rather than listen and to divide rather than touch the other, because we know deep in our bones that once we are connected we are to share. Once I, who have so much, am in relationship with someone who has so little, I simply must share, it is my identity to share. I can only ignore my identity when I ignore my neighbor, when I am disconnected. This is why God has called us together, because when we are together we simply must be with God. When we are truly connected rather than just sitting in the same room we cannot help but find our true identity which is united with God. The best way to avoid God is to avoid people. the best way to hate is to refuse to know because God is love and love is knowing your neighbor.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of sharing, it is a gospel of knowing, and it is a gospel of loving.

Comments