Christ

W.E.B Du Bois said that the problem of the 20th century – continuing into our present – was the problem of the color line. He was wrong. It’s not a line; it’s a web, entangling us all, as we voluntarily cleave to our positions, oblivious to our eventual demise.

The catchword these days at church is "missional." Missional living, missional vision, missional mindset... the focus increasingly rests on getting out of the church building to "go and be" the church. One large church in my area has over 40 mission opportunities planned for this year alone, some local and cross-country, but most of them overseas. Members have responded with great enthusiasm, filling the ranks of these planned trips without a great deal of persuasion.

The Christian author Frederick Buechner wrote in Godric:

“What’s lost is nothing to what’s found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup.”

The familiar hymn often associated with Easter,“O Sacred Head Now Wounded” is based on the long medieval poem attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1153). The lengthy poem, in seven sections, about the suffering of Christ on the cross, addresses each part of Jesus’ body- his feet, knees, hands, side, breast, heart and head.This hymn, translated from Latin into German (1601) and from Latin into English (1830), is the seventh section that focuses on Jesus’ head.

I love Christmas, because the Incarnation of Christ boggles my mind. That the second Person of the Trinity would choose to live as we live, be tempted and tried as we are, and love and delight in us, as flawed and base as we are...astounds me.