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Dying to Tell the Story Dietrich BonhoefferMartin Luther King Terry Lloyd Richard Wild Jesus of Nazareth |
The Church's Year: Lent
DYING TO TELL THE STORY Jesus was born in Galilee, a region lying between Samaria and central Palestine. His parents were Joseph and Mary, and his father was a carpenter. His extraordinary character and religious devotion were recognised from an early age, but it was not until he was baptised by John that his public ministry began. He proclaimed the message of the inbreaking of God’s Kingdom into human affairs and called the people of his time to radical obedience and a complete change of life. He proclaimed himself to be the Way, the Truth and the Life, and he spoke out against the religious leaders of his time who had made the Law a barrier between man and God. He was arrested by the authorities and tried on charges of treason. He died on a cross in A.D. 33, outside the walls of Jerusalem. The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said,’ He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’” From the fulness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No-one has ever seen God, but God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known. John 1 : 14-18 He died for speaking the truth about God’s revolutionary law of love, which overrides all other laws, and for daring to live out that love and obedience in his own life. He was the supreme truth-teller because he was himself the truth. As we seek to be truth-tellers ourselves, in our own time, we reflect the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth and his spirit lives within us, because all our words and all our attempts at truth-telling, are ultimately reflections of the Word of God made flesh, truth incarnate, Jesus, the man of Nazareth. The journalists’ prayer:- Almighty God, strengthen and direct, we pray, the will of all whose work it is to write what many read, and to speak where many listen. May we be bold to confront evil and injustice: understanding and compassionate of human weakness; rejecting alike the half-truth which deceives, and the slanted word which corrupts. May the power which is ours, for good or ill, always be used with honesty and courage, with respect and integrity, so that, when all here has been written, said and done, we may, unashamed, meet Thee face to face, Through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN |
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