Our house group have been studying the York Course over the period of Advent. The title of the course was “The Life in the comma” and involved watching a video led by John Bell, of the Iona Community, in conversation with Smitha Prasadam, Bishop of Huddersfield and Lauren Windle, a journalist.
John Bell explained that the Apostles Creed says, “…Jesus Christ…who was conceived of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate…” It deals with the birth of Christ and then moves immediately to his trial and subsequent crucifixion, with a great big fat comma in the middle!
In the last session, John Bell makes the point that we assume none of us are called by God to discipleship through being born of a virgin, nor are we being called to be crucified on a cross.
So, what is God calling us to do? It’s all in the comma!
Discipleship, is defined as following Jesus, living by his example, all those things he said and did “in the comma”.
It’s interesting that apart from a time when he went missing in the temple aged around 12 we know nothing of his life, until he was in his early 30s. Why was that? Perhaps it’s because he was to all intents and purposes an ordinary child, living an ordinary life, doing what all good Jewish boys would do at that time.
Think about it, if he had been born into a royal family, if he had been recognised by the people as the Messiah as he grew up, his life would most likely have taken a very different turn. He would not have met with the people he did, and changed them forever.
He met with tax collectors, lepers, foreigners, unclean, and women of questionable moral values. He met with ordinary people. He ate and drank with them. He celebrated and cried with them. He gathered fishermen and Levites, tax collectors and betrayers as his closest friends, all ordinary people who had little social standing.
It’s the life in the comma that we are being called to, to help the poor, to feed the hungry, to care for the sick, to visit the prisoner. Jesus had an ordinary childhood, an ordinary upbringing yet he was able to change the world.
We may not have the divinity that Jesus had, but as ordinary people we can play our part in living the life in the comma.
Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, as you lived your life here on earth may we respond to the call to live as you did, living life in the comma. AMEN