About 10 years ago I had a dream. In the dream a word was repeated over and over and over again. Metonymy, metonymy, metonymy kept going through my mind in the dream. I don't remember anything else about the dream other than I just kept repeating this word. Then as if to reinforce this word even more it began to be spelled for me M-E-T-O-N-Y-M-Y. I know I'm slow sometimes, but the Lord really was trying to get me to see something here. I woke up thinking I need to find out what this word means. I went straight for the dictionary and discovered that a Metonymy is basically a figure of speech where something is described through an association or connection with that something. For example when we watch the news and someone says "the white house issued a statement today" we know that the white house itself can't issue a statement; it represents something it is associated with. The White House represents the President and his government. So what's the point? What does this have to do with me or the church? The beginning of the answer came on a walk later that day. I was walking to the church, where I pastored, and I was meditating on 2 Corinthians 5. Specifically, I was meditating on being a minister of reconciliation. Not only did Jesus become a minister of reconciliation; He became reconciliation for us. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He didn't just do something for us He became it for us.
Jesus was a metonymy of the Kingdom. To use the name Jesus is to talk about the kingdom. This is why John's message was so important. Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand. The kingdom is within arm's reach. The Kingdom has arrived. It was even more significant than we might realize. It was an invitation into a new way of life. A new creation reality. Being "born again" means that I too become a metonymy for the kingdom. We who know and have relationship with him all become a metonymy for the kingdom. When people meet us they meet the kingdom. We become like what we are associated with. We issue a statement with our lives. We are the letter known and read by all men. We represent the reality of another world.
and that's the view from here...
