WHAT DOES YOUR CHURCH HAVE TO SAY?
Should we get serious and stop playing around or should we seriously play around as a church? My guess is that whether you see your church as liberal, moderate, or conservative, you are finding yourself asking how the church can be a reconciling presence in our increasingly divisive society. While I may have strong opinions about our current President and about either those who support or oppose him, I am driven by my faith convictions to believe that Christ died for them as well as me. Our society knows full well how to condemn and devastatingly critique our opponents. Do we know how to “love our enemies” and “pray for them who persecute us?” If so, isn’t that something important we need to be saying?
WE ARE THE BODY OF CHRIST
Our society know how to separate ourselves off into small communities who hold similar ideas and opinions. The world doesn’t need lessons on how to judge and condemn others. Does the church, the Body of Christ, have a different message to bring to our communities? Does God have something different to say through us to a increasingly divided world?
We read in Luke that when Jesus hung on the cross people mocked him and said such things as “He saved others; let him save himself . . and “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself!” If we have been called by God to be part of the Body of Christ, can we hear some of the church mockers say something similar about us?
WE ARE ONE IN THE SPIRIT
What if we could seriously demonstrate to the world how believers can hold on to integrity, debate furiously our differences, and maintain the bonds of Christian love? If we are serious about making a witness in our world, wouldn’t t be worth the effort to be disciples, or learners, about how to implement the teachings of Christ as they apply to first our relationships in the church and then in how we relate to others beyond the church?
Like the disciples before us, we won’t always be perfect or wise in our actions, but we can continue to learn and move forward together. That too may be a powerful witness to those around us.
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