GOD MANIFEST IN CHRIST

We preachers cannot get around the central Christian claim that, when we look at the life and teachings of this Jew from Nazareth who was born of a woman, lived briefly, died violently, and rose unexpectedly, we have seen as much of God as we ever hope to see.

The current age is a particular challenge for preaching a particular God who is manifest to us in Jesus the Christ. For some time now, we have been in the mire of something called "spirituality," which in my experience tends to be decidedly anti-traditionalist, anti-institutional, amorphous, vague and therefore undemanding…

Spirituality is what I feel when I feel better than I did before I felt it. It is a big, accommodating basket into which I can put almost anything I want to feel about the "higher power," or "spiritual force," or "my own little voice," or whatever I call whatever it is that makes me feel better.

The trouble is, Jesus is demanding. He is not infinitely pliable.

-- Will Willimon in Leadership Journal, Winter 2002


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