Aroma of Christ

2 Corinthians 2:15-16a - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. 

This isn't a verse we hear often on Sunday mornings in church, if ever.  But it is one of my favorites.  I'm a sucker for a good metaphor, and when it is one that engages senses beyond seeing and hearing, all the better.  Tasting, that's one we might also hear from time to time.  And feeling.

But smelling?

Yep. Scripture engages all our senses.

What a great T-shirt it would be, wouldn't it: Smelling for Christ! 

Of smelling like Christ!

OK, maybe not.  But nevertheless, this metaphor from Paul is brilliant to me. Think of all the great smells in your life: baking cookies or bread, lavender, lilacs, coffee, basil, freshly washed sheets.  Those are some of my favorites, and I'll bet you have a few more of your own.

I've read that smell is something that can bring a flood of memories on. What kind of smell would evoke memories of Jesus for us?

I also read of a church that makes sure they bake their communion bread on Sunday mornings so the church smells like bread when people arrive.

Wonderful!

There is something deeply satisfying about a beautiful smell.  And that, says Paul, is what we are called to be: the aroma of Christ.

But more than that - a fragrance "from death to death" for one, and "from life to life" for another.  If smell evokes memories, what smells and memories carry us between life and death?

How do you want to smell for Christ? What aroma should announce your arrival? What memories do you want to stir?

God of all senses, let my aroma be as pleasing as incense and bring memories of life to those who are lost.  Amen.