Sunday 22^nd March 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,
and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross.
Ephesians 2:15-16 (NIV)

Arms outstretched
With a fresh conflict erupting in the Middle East in the last few weeks, and countless other conflicts rumbling on in other parts of the world, many of them largely forgotten and scarcely reported, it’s hard not to feel that the world is more fractured than ever.  And any hope of peace seems ever more dim and further away.  It seems so fragile, so unobtainable.

We need to keep insisting that peace is possible.  God is “the God of peace.”  He is and has always been at peace in himself, with Father, Son and Spirit always in perfect agreement and alignment with each other, working with a common purpose.  And when he saves us, he brings us into peace with himself and with the rest of his people.

In one of his writings, Athanasius, a Christian theologian and patriarch of Alexandria in the 4th century, pictures Jesus on the cross, his arms outstretched to welcome both Jews and Gentiles into his family, as he makes peace between the two of them and with God in himself.  While that may not be the significance of Jesus dying with his arms outstretched, his theological insight is surely correct:

“For it is only on the cross that a man dies with arms outstretched.  Here, again, we see the fitness of his death and of those outstretched arms: it was that he might draw his ancient people with the one and the Gentiles with the other, and join and unite both together in himself.”

It’s no more than the apostle Paul is writing to the Ephesians, when he says “the two … both of them” (Jew and Gentile) become “one new humanity … in one body” (the church), “reconcile[d] … to God through the cross.”

The church is like a ‘pilot’ version – an ‘outpost’ – of the peace that God will bring to the cosmos through his Son, when his purposes are fulfilled: “to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (1:10).  That’s why it’s so important that in the local church we “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (4:3).  (Note: we are not creating unity; that has been given to us in Christ.  But we are to responsible for keeping it).  We are a demonstration to the world, and even to the spiritual powers, of God’s purpose to unite all things in and under Christ.

We might take Athanasius’ imagery as a spur to our own unity, picturing ourselves, whether Jewish or Gentile Christians, in the Saviour’s embrace.  Who would want to threaten, or even weaken, let alone escape that embrace?  Surely we want to be held as closely and as tightly by him as we can be?  And that then brings us closer to one another as well, held in the arms of Christ.

Prayer
Lord of peace, give us peace at all times and in every way.  Amen.

Yours warmly, in Christ
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)