The first appearance of grace in the Hebrew Bible is in Psalm 45, a Messianic Psalm:
"You are the most excellent of men and your lips have been anointed with grace, since G-d has blessed you forever." (vs. 2)
The psalm is a wedding psalm, about the King and his Bride (Christ and His Church). In it, the King has been anointed with the oil of joy, a righteous ruler, whose kingdom is marked by justice. It's a beautiful depiction of Christ's love for the Church, and it's made me think about what I can do, as a member of Christ's body, in the community of fellow believers, to live a life worthy of His holy kingdom.
I have to admit that I get frustrated with my church and with the Church at times, but that it is in this working-out, this struggling to be a community (and not just a group of individuals), that Christ is glorified. His Grace is not just for you and me, but for US. Think about it: if we truly lived in fellowship-community - sharing the ups and downs of everyday life, we'd kill each other. We would. We would drive each other crazy. But for the Grace of G-d. His Grace compels us to love one another, just as Christ loved the Church. This love, rooted in Grace, tells me that you are my brother, and you are my sister, and we are all broken and need Him to walk with us daily.
Psalm 45 is fulfilled in Luke, chapter 4. At the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus stands and reads from Isaiah, and then proclaims 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'
"All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips."
(Luke 4:22)
I find the emphasis (by the Western Church) on individualism to be somewhat artificial. He came to claim His Whole Church (both made whole by Him, and in whole for Him). It is this covenant of Grace, the marriage of the King and His Bride, that binds us together.
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away." (Jn. 6:37)
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*Disclaimer: These are just my thoughts. I am in no position, and have no authority to teach (or preach, for that matter); I just like to provide the context of the passages I'm sharing.
2 comments:
Here's Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the same topic:
"Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and if we are fortunate, with ourselves.
By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a moment in a dream world. He does not abandon us to those rapturous experiences and lofty moods that come over us like a dream. God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth. Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God's sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise given to it....He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial."
(Life Together, pg. 26-27)
Good thoughts though on your part. I think you're right on track.
Good luck (or, as a good Presbyterian, I should say Good Providence) with your new job.
I tried to find if Bonhoeffer and Tolkien every had any interaction. Both seem to be linked to the rise of Christian humanism in the 30's and 40's. And the emphasis on the community of the Church is apparent in both their writings.
I find the call of Christian humanism far more redeeming than, say, the Christian hedonism of Piper. Do you think the Church has lost it's perspective on the collective? Is this just a problem Western (and thus more individualist)Christianity faces?
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