Series Introduction: 

You’ve noticed the Bible, for all its complexity, is vivid with imagery. That’s because images engage not just the mind but the imagination. And goodness knows we need some imagination to comprehend transcendent truths. For example, God’s meta-story of garden to city. Imagine that flourishing garden paradise ordered from chaos…then the rebel no-man’s-land…the ghettos…the wilderness…a homeland…the temple…a foreign land…the New Kingdom…the City of God. See, we’ve conjured Scripture’s story in our imagination! 

And speaking of that story, I wonder if you recognized where you are in that narrative? Tap, as it were, into the overlap of a foreign land and God’s New Kingdom. What comes into focus is the In-between. Some have called it the Now-and-not-yet. This is where we find ourselves.  

God’s word has particular wisdom for this sojourn as we, restless for The King’s return, persist in following Jesus. We’re given, yes, images. Vivid pictures that goad, reassure and inspire our faith and resolve. Can you even get more practical?! So, let’s pack our bags with a cache of these images as we navigate the Meantime.  

Bible Version Note: Italicised Bible passages indicate author’s translation. 

Reflection:  Yearning Bodies

What better paints the archetypal picture of our world in bondage to death and decay than the repugnant birth of Jean Baptist Grenouille in 18th century Paris? (Grenouille, the lead character in the story,* was birthed, discharged and abandoned by his mother on the repulsive fishmarket floor.) Surely that newborn deserves a better world. Surely that world demands a better future. (If interested, watch the scene here – but be warned of its graphic content: Perfume: Story of a Murderer (2006): Grenouille’s mother gives birth on the floor of a fish market).

Something today will unsettle us; will ache; will scream meaninglessness, imperfection, self-obsession, pain, death. We groan. We yearn. That longing for something this world can’t satisfy, says C.S. Lewis, confirms we were made for another world**. Indeed, writes Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:2, we grow weary in our present bodies, and long to put on heavenly ones. We will finally receive our resurrected bodies. We will be like Jesus. In the meantime, in the face of angst, we wait not with a hopeless dirge or indifferent twiddling of thumbs but with expectant resolve. That we will one day share divine glory is the heartbeat of today.

*Perfume — historical fantasy by Patrick Süskind, 1985

**C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Prayer:  Weary. We’re weary, so we come to you because you told us to. Tested…and rested. You rest our souls…but not completely, until your New Kingdom is established. In the meantime, impassion our resolve. “Send us out in the power of your Spirit to live and work for your praise and glory.” (Anglican Prayer Book)