He is speaking rather about the importance of taking all that he is and all that he means into yourself and letting it be infused into your total being. He is speaking about the necessity of sharing his life so fully that he lives in you and you live in him. When I was in Leipzig six weeks ago with the Melanchthon Tour, I visited St. Nicholas Church where prayer services for peace were offered each week just prior to the fall of Communism in the eastern sector of Germany. Thousands of people gathered in the church and in the streets nearby to pray for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and the restoration of freedom to the land. Today, however, the churches in Leipzig are scarcely attended on Sunday.
Many people claim total ignorance about the Christian faith, and some even hold it in disdain.
The multitudes that thronged the streets less than ten years ago have now largely disappeared back into the pagan populace. They followed the cause of Christian freedom when it suited them, but they apparently did not take the Christian faith into themselves. When I spoke recently with Bishop Magirius, who was the pastor of St. Nicholas Church at that time, he expressed deep sorrow that so few who professed Jesus Christ then confess him now. I share that sorrow with him, not only for former East Germany, but for all the people in the world, and especially for the people in our own community. At Christmass time when so many people are gone on vacations, we have to hold four Christmass Eve services to accommodate the crowds.