September 19th, 2024
Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s video. I’m recording this from the annual College of Bishop’s meeting in Oxford.
One of the many failings of social media is the illusion it gives of real connection. As we discovered during lockdown, Zoom and Teams allows us to function but they’re no substitute for real face to face meeting. So much of our communication happens through body language and throwaway gesture. These are lost when we meet electronically. To really know someone requires us to see the whites of their eyes.
As we move on to the second stanza of the Apostles creed that might be a helpful metaphor. We believe in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord. If we only had God as a distant creator we would be more likely to retreat in fear than approach in in love. Ancient pagan practices conceived of their ‘gods’ in that way. The relationship was purely transactional. How might they placate an angry deity or persuade a reluctant, distant one to come up with the goods?
However, Jesus gives us an altogether different picture. Paul reflects in Colossians 1: 15 that, “the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Not only that but the possibility is held out that human beings can enter into a similar filial relationship. In Romans 8:29 we read, “for those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” When you consider the words spoken of Jesus both at his baptism and transfiguration, this is an extraordinary promise. “You are my son, the beloved, in you I am well-pleased”. The next two stanzas of the creed will delineate how one enters into such a relationship. But for now, the biblical understanding that this is what Jesus Christ makes possible for broken, sinful human beings is primarily in view.
I am grateful for the kind messages from many people on the news of my Father’s death a few weeks ago. We used this photograph on the front page of the order of service at the funeral. Those if you who’ve met me will I hope be able to see the likeness, although right to the end he had far more hair than I do! He took up painting in his very long retirement which started in 1984 at the age of 58. We have quite a few of his pictures. I have inherited that aspect of his creativity and I see in myself many traits both positive and negative that he has passed on. We all bear an image of our parents. When we meet the parents of friends we usually see something of our friends in them. In Jesus we see the invisible God made visible. We bear the image of both parents; Jesus Christ allows us to see God in his purest form. It really is like the difference between the grainy zoom call and meeting face to face, amplified a thousand-fold. A being completely inaccessible through human reason alone becomes accessible, even knowable. His intentions towards humanity are revealed as good. His actions can be seen through the lens of love. The words of affirmation, clarity of identity and purpose spoken of Jesus are revealed to be the Father’s words to us too.
As we will see in all aspects of the creed, these are truths that have a deep psychological resonance. We all long to be known and loved as we are. We long for an unequivocal welcome into family. In a world like ours where so many relationships end in disappointment leaving a trail of insecurity and hurt behind them, our faith speaks of the possibility of something far more secure and lasting. Jesus the son shows us the character and intentions of God the father, and they are indeed good.
The destination of all this is summed up in Revelation 21:7. “Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” This is not just a psychological prop for the now but a promise for all eternity. Good news indeed.
+Richard