When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, we are told that the heavens were open and the Spirit of God descended. When we are baptized into the Body of Christ, into Jesus, then, to the heavens are open and we say to the newly baptized “You are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own for ever.”
There is no barrier between the People of God and God and God’s People are energized, are equipped by the Holy Spirit to engage in doing God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. In the presence of God, enabled by the Holy Spirit, we go about doing “soul work”. We live out our lives as soul men, as soul women.
In 1967, Issac Hayes and David Porter, in the midst of rioting in Detroit, wrote a song to remind people of their character.
I’m a soul man,
And you’re a soul man.
Just grab a rope and I’ll pull you in,
give you hope and be your friend.
I’m talking about a soul man.
In tough times, we, too, are called to be people of soul, God’s people to whom the heavens are open and to whom the Spirit has been given.
And as the daylight fades and we settle in for the night, may our prayer be:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
His love to guide me through the night,
And wake me in the mornig light.
