Christ came, Christ comes, and Christ will come, to break that “middle wall” that separates “us” from the “other” so that we, all God’s creation, may become one in Christ, the gift of God to God’s world.
“For God so loved the world …” (John 3:16) is the very essence of Christian faith that express that gift of God and Christian life evolving from that single Christ event; for this is the very axle in which our spirituality and our whole church life revolves around. It tells us, very plainly, of God’s initiative in our salvation, our wellness and wholeness, informing that we can neither earn, nor boast of our salvation, which comes as a free gift from God. This of course includes God’s continuous providence established well through our regular work and leisure activities in God’s world with God’s people.
The passage also suggests that we drop off our petty “self-righteousness” and stubborn “self-sufficiency” and serve God by caring for, and serving humbly, God’s creatures in God’s world. This serving involves that we break down the “middle wall” we keep erecting both in subtle and more obvious ways to justify our self-righteousness and self-sufficiency.
Let me close this comment with “An Accent” – just below – a little poetic story, a plea to break one brick from that middle wall. This story was published earlier in my poetry collection titled Stinging of the Scorpion and Other Poems (2006), page 30:
An Accent
To the pond behind my yard
I saw strolling a frog and a toad
They were there on that rainy day to breed
But the two soon began chatting their creed
Said the frog: “You a Bufonidae
You disturb my peace with your croak”
Protested the toad: “You a rascal Ranidae
You scare me to my death with your squeak”
Friendly chatting now turned to a dispute
They leapt across belittling each other
And there crept the water snake, moving softly
Swallowed the frog, proceeding next to the toad!
“For God so loved the world …” (John 3:16) is the very essence of Christian faith that express that gift of God and Christian life evolving from that single Christ event; for this is the very axle in which our spirituality and our whole church life revolves around. It tells us, very plainly, of God’s initiative in our salvation, our wellness and wholeness, informing that we can neither earn, nor boast of our salvation, which comes as a free gift from God. This of course includes God’s continuous providence established well through our regular work and leisure activities in God’s world with God’s people.
The passage also suggests that we drop off our petty “self-righteousness” and stubborn “self-sufficiency” and serve God by caring for, and serving humbly, God’s creatures in God’s world. This serving involves that we break down the “middle wall” we keep erecting both in subtle and more obvious ways to justify our self-righteousness and self-sufficiency.
Let me close this comment with “An Accent” – just below – a little poetic story, a plea to break one brick from that middle wall. This story was published earlier in my poetry collection titled Stinging of the Scorpion and Other Poems (2006), page 30:
An Accent
To the pond behind my yard
I saw strolling a frog and a toad
They were there on that rainy day to breed
But the two soon began chatting their creed
Said the frog: “You a Bufonidae
You disturb my peace with your croak”
Protested the toad: “You a rascal Ranidae
You scare me to my death with your squeak”
Friendly chatting now turned to a dispute
They leapt across belittling each other
And there crept the water snake, moving softly
Swallowed the frog, proceeding next to the toad!
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