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As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)

This series of Advent Devotions runs with the title “Immanuel, God with Us,” because at Christmas we remember that God came and took on our flesh to walk in our world, our space, in the history of our time.  We also look forward to the day he will come again to dwell with us face to face, on the day he makes all things new and sets all things right.  That is the one hope to which we have been called.  And we wait for it eagerly, especially these days.

In between those two comings though—the Christmas Day of Christ’s first coming and the future Advent Day of his coming again—we still have a life to live.  A race to run.    

And just as Jesus took on human body as he was born a baby in Bethlehem, and just as he’ll return in his resurrection body someday, so his body is still present and at work in this world in between.  But in a different sense.

The body of Christ in this world right now, between those two comings—is us.  The church.  We are the body of Christ.  The body filled with His Spirit to accomplish His kingdom purposes in this world and in our lives until, as Paul will later write in this chapter, “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

So the body of Christ that is with and in this world right now, is us.  We are that body.  That tangible representation in the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are the message of the Gospel, in flesh.  The ambassadors of reconciliation who bring words of confession and forgiveness in the name of Jesus.  The Spirit within us makes it so. 

And lest we think this is all just a nice bit of fantasy or merely some illustration—remember the very first words that Paul speaks in this chapter.

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”  Paul had no illusions.  He was in chains.  In lockdown, as we are today.  Of course, Paul’s personal situation was a lot worse than ours.  But even in our situation, we can appreciate the urgency of his plea.  This isn’t fun and games, it’s not playing around and dreaming.  This is dead serious.    

In the days when you can’t attend church anymore because you’re locked down: you’ve got to live this gospel message where you are, being completely humble, gentle, patient, bearing with one another in love—especially those you’re locked down with.  Or those in the government who have put you there.  Or those neighbours who you do still see. 

It’s an easy time to drift away, to fracture off, to split apart because of the intense pressures we face outside and in: but take heart!  We have been united to this body of Christ—a union the Spirit brings and keeps and enables us to keep.  We follow One Lord who still sets before us the one hope, that when he comes again—every bit of sin and evil will be set aside, every sorrow healed, every tear dried. 

So stand firm, together with your brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.  And continue to be that body in this world, even in a time of pandemic lockdown, even on the darkest day of the year—praying and living the prayer: “your will, O Father, be done. On earth as it is in heaven.”      

On my ornament today, I’m going to try to draw some depiction of the body of Christ, the church in the world.  Not the building mind you, but the people.  I’ll write the words: “be the body.”

And for an action, is there one concrete way that you can bear with someone else in love? Perhaps it’s someone that annoys you or that you’re in a fight with.  Show love to them today.