Keith’s Blog

RTG (9) Relationship & Restoration

(FYI this entry is part of an going discussion entitled ‘Rediscovering the Gospel’ (RTG) so you might want to read some of the previous entries before starting here.)

The first of the four ‘R’s

If the Gospel of Jesus begins with the life-altering news that we are not here by accident, then it continues with the equally defining news that the primary reason for our existence is relationship.

Whilst the doctrine of the Trinity is undoubtedly challenging and complex (mind you, I still think it’s a whole lot easier to get your head around than string theory!!), what is abundantly clear from the Old and New Testaments is that the God who has revealed himself in creation, in the scriptures and supremely through Jesus Christ is a God who lives in perfect community.

John of Damascus, a seventh century Greek theologian, captured something of what this means by using the word perichoresis which literally means “circle dance.” Choros in ancient Greek referred to round dances performed at banquets and festive occasions. (These dances often included singing, hence the origins of the English word chorus.) The prefix peri (Greek for round about or all around) emphasises the circularity of this holy dance envisioned by John. (Thanks to George Claddis for the above!)

God’s existence, John of Damascus suggests, can be well illustrated in the imagery of this flowing, circular movement of dance; by the intimacy, equality, unity and yet distinction it represents – and all of this in the embracing context of unfailing love.

It is indeed a wonderful image but it becomes even more wonderful when we realise that what God has, in effect, decided to do in creation is to widen His circle. From Genesis to Revelation, but especially in the ministry and teaching of Jesus, it is clear that the God of creation who has created this world, and who has created us, has done so entirely that we might come to know Him and likewise enter into this glorious, liberating, embracing communion that he has enjoyed within Himself for all eternity.

For so many of us, religion, including Christian religion, is about worshipping a far off and fearsome God in whose presence we are not, and never can be, worthy to stand; our religion is one of appeasement. And we are mistaken.

However we interpret the narratives of Genesis, what they indisputably reveal is that from the very beginning God’s desire in breathing His Spirit into Humankind has been that we, too, might experience this perichoresis – this divine, intimate, embracing community both with Him and, through Him, with one another. This is what we see as Adam and Eve walk with God in the Garden hand in hand, without shame and in perfect harmony. Above all else, this is what was was lost through their (and our own subsequent) rejection of God’s reign and rule.

Yet, even after this tragic failure on our part, even long after what theologians call “the fall”, when we read passages such as Jer 31:31-34 and reflect upon them, we see that God had promised that one day he would act so that this intimacy could be restored. And now, as we gaze with wonder at those events of two thousand years ago in Palestine, and when we encounter Jesus’ teaching for ourselves in passages such as Luke 15 we see so wonderfully that that time has finally come. Though we have long and often rejected Him, though we have repeatedly denied him his place in our lives and world, God has now reached out to us and longs still for us to know Him, to feel His embrace, to experience His forgiveness, to receive His love. In Christ, God has widened His circle once more and has declared Himself to be with us. All that is now needed from us is the decision to be with Him.

This, again, is why the message of Jesus is such Gospel, is such good news. We were made for relationship and through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection all that was lost in that first rebellion, all that has been lost for us through our own, can now be dealt with and restored. Now we can know God; now we can truly know one another once more.