Thursday, September 29, 2022

 

Thursday, September 29, 2022


Psalm 69:1-16

Ezra 2:64-3:8

Colossians 2:1-7


Observance: Michael and All Angels


...continue to live your lives in Christ.


Umberto Eco, author of (amongst other things) The Name of the Rose, has a recurring theme in his works. It seems to be that his own existential crisis is being worked out in his literary output. The crisis goes something like this: “life's meaning has not revealed itself on its own, therefore I need to fill my head with knowledge and information. Even if I do not discover the meaning of life, my time has not been wasted in the searching.” Whether or not the author has followed the lead of his characters and come to the understanding that no amount of information will fill the void, and that the answer lies elsewhere, is between Eco and God.


How much effort is thrown into human endeavour; consider the modern-day cathedrals: private enterprise pushing the limits of modern engineering and accounting to make space tourism a reality. Or the personal projects: politicians and public figures who put so much work into grooming themselves into leaders and influencers. As the pendulum of fashion swings, gyms have risen in popularity as people replace consumerism with their physical figure as the project worth working on.


Our spiritual life, the relationship that begins with God speaking life into us, is worth the most effort. It hangs on the two commandments of Jesus: to love God and to love one another. The vertical relationship and the horizontal relationship inform each other. As the exiles returned to rebuild the Temple, their first priority was the vertical relationship, reinstating the sacrificial system, because they knew it affected their horizontal relationship: their dread of the neighbouring peoples (Ezra 3:3). Paul makes the two axes play with eachother. The church must love one another and be united so that the mysteries of God may be revealed; and by holding to God in Christ, the church is protected from the deception hidden within “plausible arguments”.


Christ's work on the cross is finished, death has lost its sting, us along with all creation have the path back to our loving Father in heaven. This is not a “fun fact” or an interesting piece of knowledge: it is a calling to live every second putting in every effort we can muster. All of our heart, soul, mind and strength goes into this work. It is not in vain; we have enough answers to start with and will get more answers as we continue. The life rooted in Christ reveals all the hidden mysteries and is never wasted.



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