Imagining the Lectionary: Child-like trust is the key to the Kingdom (Proper 22B/Ordinary 27B)
contributor: David Perry
Description
Imagining the Lectionary: Child-like trust is the key to the Kingdom
(Proper 22B/Ordinary 27B)
Reflection accompanying images:
“Receive the kingdom of God like a child”
“Trust like a child’s”
“You will not be overcome”
If Methodism sings its theology, Catholicism carves it. Tucked away in the grounds of a former
convent and largely obscured beneath an overshadowing tree, I discovered this statue of
Christ holding a child. It is rich in symbolism. Suffering, death and loss and the power of God's
love are all represented by the cross held tightly in the child's hands. This honest reminding of
the givens of our humanity is held within the intimacy of God's love as tenderly depicted in the
warmth and closeness of the embrace between Jesus and the child.
What is carved here evokes the truth of which St Paul writes in his letters: "there is nothing
love cannot face" (I Corinthians13:7 Revised English Bible) and "For I am convinced that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39 NRSV).
That truth is trust in God.
Continues...
(Proper 22B/Ordinary 27B)
Reflection accompanying images:
“Receive the kingdom of God like a child”
“Trust like a child’s”
“You will not be overcome”
If Methodism sings its theology, Catholicism carves it. Tucked away in the grounds of a former
convent and largely obscured beneath an overshadowing tree, I discovered this statue of
Christ holding a child. It is rich in symbolism. Suffering, death and loss and the power of God's
love are all represented by the cross held tightly in the child's hands. This honest reminding of
the givens of our humanity is held within the intimacy of God's love as tenderly depicted in the
warmth and closeness of the embrace between Jesus and the child.
What is carved here evokes the truth of which St Paul writes in his letters: "there is nothing
love cannot face" (I Corinthians13:7 Revised English Bible) and "For I am convinced that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from
the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39 NRSV).
That truth is trust in God.
Continues...
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