The Widening Circle

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In The Widening Circle, Graham Tomlin suggests that ‘Priest’ is much more than a term to describe certain Christian ministers – it is a vital category for understanding God’s way of blessing his world. Jesus Christ is the only and true ‘High Priest’ His priestly ministry consists of mediating between God and the world, perfecting that very creation, and then offering this perfected creation back to the God from whom it came. Yet this very ministry is enacted through others. As we explore how this priesthood of Christ has an impact on everyday life, we discover the human race is chosen to play a priestly role between God and Creation. The Church is then called out to be a kingdom of priests, enabling humanity to fulfil its divine calling. And, finally, the minister himself or herself – experiencing as Christ did, both strands of priestly reality, the mundane and the heavenly, the routine and the remarkable, the normal and the numinous – is called to enable the rest of the Church to play its distinct part. In each case, the part is the means by which the whole becomes all that it is intended to be, in an ever widening circle of divine blessing.

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