A phone company or a family?
Jan
15
Written by:
1/15/2009 7:35 AM
I wasn't in the worship service this week. Bracken is going through major separation anxiety so Morgan and I are taking turns hanging out with him in the nursery. This week was my turn.
I listened to the sermon online today. When you listen online, you miss the music, the people sitting around you, the passing of the peace, the visual images that fill the room and create such an amazing space, the Lord's Supper, the elbow in the ribs when something is said your wife thinks is especially significant for you, the coffee... Even with these internet limitations, the sermon was still quite powerful.
It was the second week of the 2-week kickoff of 2009 _together. Last week we briefly explored what _together has to do with our resources (as far as the church budget goes.) This week we turned from resources to relationships. The foundation for both weeks (and possibly for the entire year) is the simple assertion that "The full Christian experience cannot happen when we are not sharing life with others." In other words, I cannot follow Jesus by myself. So much of the life into which Jesus calls us necessarily involves others. We're called to serve, to forgive, and to love. We cannot do these things alone. Or rather, if we do these things alone, they quickly deteriorate into nothing more than selfishness.
Even though we cannot fully experience God outside of relationships, it's so easy to believe otherwise. We believe that we are islands - unconnected from the people and the world around us. We believe that nearly all of the decisions that we make each day are "personal." We might hear, say, or think things like "I'm not hurting anybody with my choices." The reality is that the things we do and the decisions we make have deep and lasting effects on others. Nate mentioned a man deciding to watch less TV. Because he watched less TV, he was more available to talk with his wife. His wife was able to stop going to counseling because she now felt heard at home. She gave some of the money that she saved on counseling to a micro-finance project in the Philippines. A family bought a water buffalo with this money and they are now selling the milk from this buffalo. A family that once lived in extreme poverty is now "making it" all because some guy decided to watch less TV. This is beautiful and overwhelming. Who's impacted by the things I do?
In addition to having the tendency to falsely assume that we are unconnected, we also have the tendency to view the church as unessential. "My relationship with God is my business," we might say. It's acceptable, even lauded in some circles, to view the church as an option within Christianity. It's as if our faith is all about a personal relationship with Jesus. Yes, there are some tools that we can use to help foster that relationship - Bible reading, prayer, fasting, solitude, church - but it's really all about you and God.
This personal relationship with Jesus simply isn't a Biblical concept. It smacks of American Individualism and in fact runs counter to Biblical Christianity.
One powerful image from the sermon was the contrast between a phone company and a family. Is the church something that serves our needs and whims - with the best ringtones and rollover minutes? Or, is it something that we are part of? A body that we are inextricably woven together - for better or for worse, 'til death do us part?
Ephesians 4:15, 16 -- "But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love."