Monday, April 5, 2010

The Present Power of His Resuurection

If the central saving act of Christian faith is reglegated to the future, with the fervent hope that Christ's resurrection is the pledge of our own, and that one day we shall reign with him in glory, then the risen One is pushed safely out of the present. Limiting the resurrection either to the past or to the future makes the present risenness of Jesus largely irrelevant, safe-guards us from interference with the ordinary rounds and daily routine of our lives, and preempts communion now with Jesus as a living person.

In other words, the resurrection needs to be experienced as present risenness. If we take seriously the word of the risen Christ, "know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time," we should expect that he will be actively present in our lives. If our faith is alive and luminous, we will be alert to moments, events, and occasions when the power of resurrection is brought to bear on our lives. Self-absorbed and inattentive we fail to notice the subtle ways in which Jesus is snagging our attention.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

I Chronicles 16:34

By Brennan Manning

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for another thoughtful post.