Living in the Spirit
November 1, 2018
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 9:11-14
But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!
The Greek word translated tent here has a very special life in the history of the people of Israel. It denotes the place where God dwelled with them on their sojourn out of slavery traveling to the promised land. It is also called a booth, tabernacle, abode, dwelling. A place where sacrifices were offered to God. Followers of Christ continued that idea in recognizing Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice in his death and resurrection initiating God’s eternal presence within us through the Spirit of God.
God seems to weave God’s love through cultures and the development of society to meet the demands of life’s transitions from living in tents to worshipping in temples, to welcoming the Spirit into our hearts leading toward the full fruition of God’s vision of one great community of love.
Followers of Christ are a part of that great tapestry in the making. We must always keep that in the forefront of our minds and our hearts as we deal with the ever-present challenges and outright evil that rears its ugly head. Building that community of love starts with each of us loving like Jesus loves and all of us joining hands and finding Common Ground through love to grow the Common Good for the whole world moving from wholeness to oneness, to justice for all.
Prayer: God who is Love, bless us in our weakness as we strive to follow your vision of creating a Kingdom ruled by love. Amen.