Seeking Christ

Neil Postman, in his compelling book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, argues that we have moved as a culture from one wherein the printed word drives us, to one wherein the image drives us. With the advent of the printing press, we became better able to think in abstract terms, to follow arguments, and to reach conclusions. Now, in a world driven by images on screens, we think less and feel more. Now we emote on the basis of images, rather than think on the basis of arguments. We are more likely to be moved, than we are to be persuaded.

As is so often the case, however, what we are called to here is balance. We do not want to be carried away with our emotions, nor by what we see. Neither, on the other hand, do we want to suppress our emotions and live like robots. Our goal is that we would think rightly, that our minds would be renewed, and having had this happen, that we would be changed in our hearts, that we would be transformed.

That same balance is reflected in how the Word reaches us. Far too often in the history of the church theologians have pitted the sacraments against preaching, failing to see their organic connection. The Bible is the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is the bread and the wine. The bread and the wine is the Word of God. To put it better perhaps, in the worship service we are blessed by the Word preached, as we are blessed by the Word touched, and tasted, at the table.

To push our analogy a step further, we must also remember that the church is the body of Christ, and the bread is the body of Christ. God has not given us just words on a page. He has given us the Word visible in the sacrament, and in the church. Our calling is to seek to see Him in both. We need to see Him in our brothers and sisters in the pew, and when we come to His table.

In both instances we are changed. In both instances we draw near to Him. In both instances we are changed, in our whole being. Jesus told us that the world would know we were His by our love one for another (John 13:35). Given that we are still sinners, how can we rightly love one another? Because we grow in our capacity to see Jesus in one another. He indwells each of us, and He is altogether lovely. We in ourselves are merely dust and rebellion. But Christ in us, that is glory and beauty and all that is lovely.

Our calling is to keep our eyes on the prize. Jesus not only secures our reward, but is our reward. As we look to Him, whether we find Him in the Bible, at the table, or in the pews, we move toward our eternal home. Jesus promised that lo, He is with us always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). We ought then always to see Him with us.