a lot less lonely

I've been studying for my theology class today. Here is a quote from a book we've been reading, "Faces of Forgiveness" by F. LeRon Shults (my theology prof).

"All of our lives are spent longing for a face that will grant us peaceful loving attention, a face that will secure us and call us into a hopeful future. In Christ, we find that face; by the Spirit, we become that face for one another."



I find this idea truly fascinating. In fact, it is much like the founding idea of this blog. (see "the longing" under previous posts). Essentially it is saying that Christ is the object of our desires--our longing. What is most intriguing about this idea from Shults is his point that we, as we live in community with each other, manifest the very face of God. The implications of this are quite significant. This means that what God offers to each of us is made real in our lives through our relationships with others. How we understand and experience things like grace, forgiveness, and divine love have everything to do with how these things are being lived out in our communities.
I think that if we could really begin to understand this more, our society (and our churches) would be much less individualistic and more self-sacrificial. And maybe we'd be a lot less lonely.