Friday 6 March 2026

Psalm 15

Background
Today’s passage describes a mystical insight into what it means to be ‘in Christ.’ As we respond to Christ, our small selves die in Christ, and as we are raised to a spacious, shared life and love in Christ. We are born into a whole new world.

A parallel might be a couple having their first baby. Life will never be the same for them. Likewise, a baby, born into a family must learn a whole new way of being in its new world. Living in the old ways, will not work in this new world.

Jesus put emphasis on helping the blind to see, teaching his disciples to open their ears to hear and their hearts to care. In the ordinary human way of doing things, we all grow up with habits of seeing and doing things; of relating to people and we don’t like these habits to be disturbed. If we had a religious upbringing, we may learn to pray using certain words. We pick up ‘ideas’ about what God is like and what God likes, who Jesus is and what he likes. Many of these ideas can be a bit confused. They may come second hand and be rather limited.

In Christ’s new world, which Paul signposts for us, we need to learn a new language, a new way of listening to God first hand, to help us relate to others differently.

I sit with words of Scripture, the conversations I hear, the situations on my heart and I listen for God. Sometimes, I will receive the grace to let go of my preconceived ideas and prejudices and be content just to ‘not know’. (Like Nicodemus coming to Jesus in the darkness of night in John 3.)

With grace, sometimes I hear the word from God that I need to know. I receive the insight and the power from God to be Christ’s ambassador and play my part in God’s creation, God’s new world.

Living in Christ’s new world, my eyes acclimatise, my ears become attuned, so that I begin to see how totally interconnected I am with those around, and the processes of the created world.

I recognise how Christ is embodying suffering in all the ways we separate ourselves from God, to bring us all to a new, embodied risen life.

I share in my heart, mind and body the suffering and the joys of this new world.

To Ponder:

• To what extent do you think from your own experience that part of being converted to Christ is recognising the deep interconnectedness of all things? And that this needs us to learn new ways of seeing and hearing? Give an example of how you see this.
• Do you have the experience of periods where you ‘forget’ you live in Christ’s new world, and try to use the ways and language of the ‘former’ world? Then somehow Christ ‘wakes’ you up?
• Have you found ways of publicly showing your awareness of Christ’s new world to those around you, without cornering them in a tug of war of ideas? Please share.

Prayer
Wondrous God, closer to us than own breath, holding us in being, moment by moment, we pray for the eyes to see your love, which shines through the vibrant inter-being of your whole creation. Amen.

Bible notes author: The Revd Jenny Ellis
Jenny is a supernumerary Methodist minister. She facilitates a mindfulness community based at her local surgery and also online. She also leads quiet days and contemplative study days.