SPEAKING TO THE SOUL

Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.
Luke 24:22-24 NLT

Last year Jayne and I purchased two vegetable troughs. They offered the ideal solution for our homegrown veg project. They were accessible in height, no bending with the accompanying groans of ageing limbs. The soil was also high quality, free from weeds and garden pests. We get excellent crops from them. All that’s fine now, but on arrival I lost my confidence faced with some complicated flat pack instructions. I’m no DIY specialist, but together, with Jayne’s patience and meticulous eye for detail, and my brute force deployed under Jayne’s management, we assembled them successfully.

I wanted the troughs to arrive ready-built, but like life, they needed careful assembly. When we engage with the gospel narrative, we read a comprehensive and complete story. I made the mistake initially of thinking I was stepping into something already built. Little did I realise that my life was in kit form only; all the correct pieces were there but I had to build this life under the management of the Holy Spirit. On occasion, I constructed this life of faith with pieces slotted into the wrong place. This demanded I deconstruct it so that I might reconstruct correctly. These were often moments of despondency. It’s also quite difficult taking something apart once built.

The despondent disciples had instructions and sufficient evidence to build a life of faith on the risen Christ, but were walking away from Jerusalem – the wrong direction. They needed the community within which to discover their shared faith. The very people they separated from were the ones they needed to inspire true faith.

Faith is not designed to be an isolated experience. It’s birthed from fellowship, starting with Jesus with the twelve.

QUESTION

Are you in fellowship with other believers?

PRAYER

Thank you for the learning community of the Church.

Photo – Winchester Cathedral