Kvelling on God's reconciling work

Aaron preached on Ephesians 2:11-17, and I looked back to my April entry and saw that I also studied it before I started backtracking. The challenge of this passage is not the conceptual understanding -- I don't find the concept of unity between Jew and Gentile (or interracial reconcilation in general) difficult at all, nor to I find it hard to see that our way of salvation is the same, both through the blood of Jesus. The challenge of this passage for me is more emotional: Paul is laying out God's exciting purpose, and I don't really feel that excited. God made great sacrifice to bring Jew and Gentile together to create one people, and I tend to treat it in a blase manner.

I regret (but tend to accept) the cultural divisions that exist in the church today. I find that I don't really lament or grieve them, nor do I get that super-excited over the vision that God has, except when I'm sitting in church and someone else preaches about it or it is the theme of the worship or singing. Then I 'feel' it -- but day-to-day I tend to forget all about it as my personal daily concerns supercede everything else.

To Paul, though, it is front and center. God's vision for creating a unified purpose IS his personal daily concern!

I am reminded of Dr. Goldenhersch, at HSSC, teaching us the meaning of the word 'kvell', and kvelling on her children and grandchildren. Maybe I should be kvelling on God's vision for his people.

Merriam-Webster definition for kvell
Pronunciation: \ˈkvel\
Function: intransitive verb
Etymology: Yiddish kveln to be delighted, from Middle High German quellen to well, gush, swell
Date: circa 1952
: to be extraordinarily proud : rejoice


This is what Paul does all through Ephesians so far. He kvells constantly on the wonderful will and work of God.