“Maintaining a sense of perspective”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Saturday, September 16, 2023
Philippians 3:17-4:7 (Forward, p. 49) CEV p. 1230
It is the kind of scenario that happens far too often within the institution called the church, and with which I am all too familiar. Two women have been the backbone of certain of the church’s ministries and have borne far more than their proportionate weight of it. And quite frankly, they are tired and miserable and have become more than a wee bit cranky—and who can blame them. The end result is that they are ‘in each other’s faces’, fretting and arguing with each other. Paul begs them to quit arguing, but then comes up with a far better solution. He recruits a trusted helper, a man called Syzygus, to come alongside them and help them.
But then Paul comes up with an even better set of solutions. He suggests to them that they rejoice and be gentle with each other, and why? Because the Lord will soon be here. And what is more: any worry or concern that they have in the meantime can safely and properly be directed to Him. And indeed, such prayers of concern, mixed with thanksgiving, can have an effect far beyond anything they might have expected. They will receive ‘the peace that passes all understanding’, a peace that comes only from God. That peace will stand guard and watch over them like some security patrol and protect and control both the ways they think and the ways they feel. They need to keep this wider understanding of God’s care and protection firmly in their minds, even as they encounter stresses and difficulties, and anxious times and hurt feelings. They need this wider perspective.
Paul, however, also touches on another aspect or dimension of this wider perspective. He beseeches his audience to remember that they are not citizens of this world or of its kingdoms, but of a greater and better one, one that is in heaven. And while the church sits in a kind of dual situation, being located here on earth but also being part of that heavenly kingdom, it means that what happens in this earthly church is not the ‘end of the story’. So that means that not ‘all their eggs are in this basket’. They can sit more easily with what happens, and behave more gently with both themselves and others, because they know that this is not ‘the end of the line’, the final thing. This wider, broader perspective could be of great help to them back then, and to us today. Amen.
Forward notes: “He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be confirmed to the body of this glory by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself” (chapter 3, verse 21).
“What kind of bodywork does the risen Jesus do? Paul’s imagery proclaims a hope for more than life after death. In offers a vision of Christ doing therapeutic work with bodies. I picture Jesus as a physical therapist, approaching people who have experienced the bodywork of social and political humiliation in this world. I imagine him teaching them to breathe in resurrection life like him. I envision his showing them with his own body how to loosen tense muscles and move in new ways with him. I encounter a patient, devoted Jesus, who knows what our bodies need and who wants them to feel glory in their bones with him.
“I don’t know what resurrection of the body will mean, but this imagery points me to the divine love that declared bodies are worth resurrecting. It gives me hope for the life our bodies were made for: full, vibrant life with God that neither humiliation nor death can touch.”
Moving Forward: ‘Imagine Jesus as physical therapist, helping to work out the aches and pains and restore us to full health”.
