The stories of the Resurrection, as hard as they are for modern ears to comprehend, mean that the life Jesus lived and the project he pursued (the Kingdom of God) did not perish at the crucifixion, but continued in the lives of those who carried on what he had begun.

This is what the theological language about Christians as the “Body of Christ” or the “extension of the Incarnation” attempt–with only limited success–to articulate. When Jesus referred to himself as the “vine” and his friends as the “branches” (John 15:5) this is what he had in mind.

from The Future of Faith