At the beginning of this month we celebrated Christ’s victory over death and re-affirmed our final estate of “life, after life after death” - as N.T. Wright puts it. Though we are certain of an eternity in sinless resurrected bodies in a curse-less new heavens and earth, we are still regularly confronted with the reality of physical death. In late March that came in the form of the loss of two long time Hamilton residents, Ann Cochran and Mary Keys. Though they were on quite opposite ends of the spectrum of views toward God, they were remarkably similar in many ways. You never had any doubt about where either stood, as they were willing to talk about what they believed. Yet both were endearing, personable and respectful. Ann always wanted to know who everybody was if she hadn’t met them and how they were doing if she had. And Mary always peppered her conversations with me with the address, “dear.” Ann loved her community, and literally walked every inch of it. Mary loved her church community and cared about every person in it.
As believers we are called to be ambassadors for Christ. That means we go in his place, because he can’t (literally). As such we bring Christ’s character to our community, what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit, the presence of Christ in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. As Christians we know and acknowledge where these characteristics come from. And that is our mission, “as if Christ were making his appeal through us . . . be reconciled to God! God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21). Our ambassadorship is not just about reflecting Christ’s character, but acknowledging its source. Paul himself acknowledges his need for prayer:
We need our church community and every one in it. But God wants us to get out and “walk around” the larger community, as ambassadors for Christ. As such we have the opportunity to reflect the loving, gracious and compassionate character of Christ - and as necessary, use words to acknowledge the source.