Thomas J. Davis quoting Martin Luther: “Now this is the fruit, that even as we have eaten and drunk, and say the same words to our neighbor, Take, eat, and drink . . . meaning to offer yourself with all your life, even as Christ did with all that he had” (This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, 56).

Here is a thoughtful article by Peter Leithart; he is commenting on Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956, and his closing thoughts are quite compelling: social collateral (the matrix and benefits created by social institutions) is greater and more powerful than raw free enterprise (the market).

Leithart says that the former, not the latter, serves as a better bulwark to tyranny. Surely, for some, this is a controversial statement.

“What God has done for the individual in eucharistic celebration then becomes the model for how the believer acts toward others” (Thomas J. Davis, This is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought, 55).

The answer to the first question (“What is the chief end of man?”) from The Shorter Catechism is the paradigmatic compound sentence, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

This “chief end” is the design at back the master narrative of humanity. As A. W. Tozer said, “God formed us for himself. . . . God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we as well as He can in divine communion enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile” (see The Pursuit of God, Chapter 3).

“[W]e are repeatedly told to “put on Christ” or to “clothe” ourselves with Christ. This is the costume of our new character. Instead of the fig leaves that, as children of Adam and Eve, we used to cover up our shame, God has provided the sacrificial clothing of Jesus Christ and his perfect righteousness, foreshadowed when he clothed Adam and Eve” (Michael Horton, A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship, 56).