ニューイングランドの母校からアドベントの便り、その１
2016 Gordon-Conwell
Advent Devotional | Day 1 |Introduction
Hebrews 1:1-3
Film making in the post-Disney age has made us aware of the power of images especially when they are not connected to reality. Movies bring us into an alternative universe and invite us to suspend judgment for a time, eventually orienting us to the point where the lines between myth and reality become difficult to distinguish. We are drawn into these stories supposing at the outset that we are leaving reality behind, only to be caught inside a story which reorients us to its plot line and its values. We are introduced to an alternative set of perceptions about what matters and why. The movies might be gritty and realistic portrayals of life from the vantage point of those who stand in very different shoes than our own, or they might represent images of life very close to our own but whose consequences are different than we suppose.
When the book of Hebrews refers to Jesus as the exact image of God, we are invited into a different universe of meaning. Jesus is the one who actually created this entirely different universe and the one to whom that universe of experiences is headed. Like a really good film, the power of the image that is Jesus helps us see life through a different set of lenses. The difference, however, is that Jesus is the truly real universe of meaning. Here at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, we hope in the pages that follow that you will consider not only Jesus as the reason for the season, but that Jesus is the reason for everything. In some strange and unpredictable fashion, our prayer is that you would see yourself differently when you see Jesus, and that you would see your work and your relationships and your habits in a very different light. In Jesus, we hope you will see “the radiance of glory of God.”
Dr. Richard Lints
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of the Hamilton Campus; Andrew Mutch Professor of Theology
