Devotion • November 16
Today's Scripture
Revelation 1:4b–8
John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (NRSV)
Reflection
A remarkable thing about John’s salutation to the seven churches in Asia is that it was addressed to seven churches in Asia. In the Bible, seven can connote completeness and perfection. Yet Revelation chapters 2–3 reveal these churches were characterized by strengths and weaknesses — strengths and weaknesses that encompass the range of churches we see today, from conservative and orthodox to liberal and progressive.
How is God’s manifold wisdom made known through the church, which can at times be patiently enduring and idolatrous, faithful and morally compromised, abounding in good works and loveless?
In The Communion of Saints, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:
“What distinguishes Christian thinking from all idealist theories of community is that the Christian community is the church of God in every moment of history and knows it will never attain perfection within the development of history. It will remain impure so long as history exists, and yet in this its actual form it is God’s church.
“If we now ask at what point faith most purely ‘experiences the church,’ then the answer is that this certainly does not come about in the communities built upon a romantic feeling of solidarity between kindred spirits, but rather when there is nothing but the church community linking the individuals concerned, where Jew and Greek, Pietist and Liberal come into conflict and nevertheless profess their faith in unity, nevertheless come together for Holy Communion and intercede for one another in prayer; it is precisely in the commonplace surroundings of every day that the church is believed and experienced.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Communion of Saints, pp. 197–198)
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Please grant us grace to repent, and please strengthen our faith in the way we should go. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Written by Jeanette Chung, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
Devotion index by date | I’d like to receive daily devotions by email
YouTube
Podcasts
/fourthchurch
#fourthchurch
@fourthchicago