Luther at his best ( I refrain from quoting Luther at his worst)

"It is not we who sustain the Church, nor was it those who came before us, nor will it be those who come after us. It was, and is and will be the one who says 'I am with you, even to the end of time…' As it says in Hebrews 13 'Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever. And in Revelation 1, 'Who was, and is, and is to come. Truly he is that one, and no one else is, or ever can be."

Quoted in A McGrath, Roots that Refresh, 192.

Now there's a presupposition that should inform every missional decision, preface every strategic review, edit every agenda for change, reassure every discipleship risk assessment. And there's a presupposition that should alleviate anxiety, prevent paralysis, dissolve complacency, and negate negativity by the positive assertion of the eternal reliability of who God is in Christ.

Frederick Hart's Christ Rising is one of my favourite images. The cruciform shape and the bursting energy show a figure transcending humanity, but profoundly human.