I saw a remarkable photograph this week. I think it has gone viral. You may have seen it – an Orangutan holding out a helping hand to a man wading in a snake infested river. The photographer who took the picture said, “At a time when mankind is dying inside humans, animals lead us to the principles of humanity”. Makes you think.
A Mixed Bunch
We humans are such a mixed bunch. How sickening it was to see, after England’s defeat in the Euro final last Sunday, the litter and destruction left in London’s streets by careless and sometimes violent crowds. Much worse than that, though, was the racial abuse hurled at the three black footballers who had missed their penalties. Then followed a deluge of support and love for these guys, not only from their manager and teammates but from thousands of ordinary people, witnessing to something good and caring in humanity.
A Cosmic Purpose
This week, in our series on the church, we are thinking about the church as a Witness. That might be an obvious enough description. After all, it was what Jesus said to the disciples right at the beginning of the church’s life – “You shall be my witnesses”. We have tended to think of that in terms of our witness as individuals. However, the passage we are looking at this Sunday in Eph.3:1-13 (especially v.10) shows a very different aspect to the church’s witness which is cosmic, revealing God’s many-faceted wisdom to the heavenly beings. John Stott says in his commentary on Ephesians: “The gospel is good news of a new society (the church) as well as of a new life (for the individual)”.
Something to think about
We have to ask ourselves – how does QP fit in to the cosmic witness of the church? And how does my life and behaviour enhance or deny the witness of QP to heaven and earth?
Edwin