In the Spirit
Linda Pollock
March 31, 2020
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Romans 8: 9-11 (NSRSVA)
9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Yeast changes the structures of flour, water, salt and fat into bread. It works by serving as one of the leavening agents in the process of fermentation, which is essential in the making of bread. The purpose of any leavening agent is to produce the gas that makes bread rise. Yeast does this by feeding on the sugars in flour and expelling carbon dioxide in the process.
The yeast allows the basic ingredients to come together and create a new structure, it enables the ingredients to be transformed. This new structure affords possibilities that, before the humble fungus was discovered, never existed.
No yeast — no fermentation, no rise — no loaf to slice and toast and slather with butter and marmalade…
Saint Paul believes that the Spirit of Christ Jesus creates a new structure for us to dwell in. When the Spirit lives in us, we are empowered to live in a new reality, a place of hope where we can set our hearts and minds on more than simply surviving for as long as possible in this world.
It means too, that we see through the lens of that Spirit of Christ which also means that our thinking, our living, our expectations, our deepest longings and heart’s desires are grounded in God.
The wonderful good news is that we no longer have to be slaves to anything, we simply have to trust that God chooses to be one with us, and then respond to that good news, living as Christ lived, gathering the ones on the margins into our embrace, challenging the injustices far and near, standing with the ones who have nobody to stand with them, welcoming strangers and loving God with our whole being.
This new structure we are invited to live in with the Spirit of Christ is costly, are you willing to pay the price?
PRAYER:
Silence is one of the languages of God, please sit in silence and breathe in and out, slowly, intentionally and repeat the following phrase until your heartbeat slows down and you are focussing on God: “The Lord is here, His Spirit is in me.” Don’t ask for anything, don’t tell God anything — He already knows! Simply be silent.
Lent Disciplines
LENT DISCIPLINE — The Transforming Bread: Our Creator has made a creative humanity. Each day this week take a short amount of time to ‘make something’. Interpret ‘make’ however you like — bake, draw, paint, knit, stitch, build. Perhaps your making is ‘making time for someone’ by giving them a call. Or maybe there are other ways you can ‘make a difference’. Even as we are isolated in our homes there are things we can make and do and opportunities to bless one another.
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