... we are to live not by imitation but by incarnation! God's spirit has been given to the Church - us! We are to be the Body of Christ and he now takes on our flesh and blood to live out His life through us.
I Give Up, God by Bryan Jay Cannon
Christ lives through each one of us in countless ways both large and small. Not a day goes by that I do not see the living Christ in someone.
I am in that twilight state that follows surgery. The anesthesia is wearing off, the pain is beginning to make itself felt, and I cannot string together three intelligent words. I have watched Cathy Brown's concern grow as she has waited with me for 30 minutes and the medication has still not appeared. Sunlight reflects from her armor as she marches into the hospital corridor to do battle for me at a time when I am unable to do battle for myself. I see the Christ in Cathy Brown.
I hear the Christ in Jane Perdue's soft, "Hey, Bev." No matter how happy, sad, lonely or frenzied I am feeling, her 'Hey' is the sound of homecoming. It fills me with a peace that truly is the "peace that passes understanding."
Louise Westfall makes herself vulnerable by sharing with a gathering of Presbyterian Women the pain and brokenness she experienced in her divorce and the deaths of her father and young sister-in-law. I meet the Christ in Louise Westfall.
I feel the Christ in Blanche Brooks as she reaches out and lovingly touches the cheek of baby Christopher Lyttle. As one of the most senior members of our family of faith strokes the cheek of one of the youngest, I feel the ongoing and eternal love of Christ transcending the boundaries of time to connect all of God's children, for all time, in community.
I experience the Christ in my daughters as, at the close of a dreary, gray winter day, they call me to a window to share their wonder as the setting sun suffuses earth and sky with a shimmering pink blush of angels.
In whom have you seen the Christ today? For whom might you make Him live tomorrow?
Beverly Schneider (1990)
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