Description
Imagining the Lectionary: Held firm and strong (Epiphany 3B)
Reflection accompanying images “Held firm and strong 1”, “Held firm and strong 2” and “Held firm and strong 3”
The cross-shaped mooring bollards in the photographs convey such a real sense of hefty, unbreakable strength, fixed right deep down beneath the surface, that they look as though they can take the strain of any load that is applied to them. They are the very antithesis of flimsy and insubstantial. Whatever ties up here will be held firm and strong.
As Jesus begins his public ministry this is the sense of God he conveys too; a good-news reality that is substantial, unbreakable, fixed deep down into the nature of life; the full heft of divine love which is more than capable of taking the loading and the strain of our experience and of holding us firm and strong.
The shape of God's presence and purpose is that of the Kingdom of Love, which was grasped imaginatively by the Prophets and is now embodied and enacted in Jesus himself.
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