24 August 2006

Korby yet again

From the central activity of worship as receiving in faith the offered reconciliation in Christ, which creates the new life in her, the church derives boldness from the Word of God which she hears while speaking. Her courage is the joy of offering all her sufferings to God, not only as pleasing to Him but also as the manifestation of the victory of His graicous will over evil. She does not call suffering an act to propitiate God, but by calling out in proclamation and prayer, the church rejoices in her union with the Mediator, in consort with whom she is instrumental in bearing some specific piece of evil in the world. She accepts the death inflicted on her, not in morbidity but in union with Christ's conquering death. At worship one Christian calls to another with the remembrance of Christ's sufferings that each together may turn over all suffering to God as a joyful celebration of God's victory in Christ. - The Church at Worship in *The Lively Function of the Gospel* p. 77

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