Thought for Today
Deuteronomy 15:7 If there is among you anyone in need, a member of your community in any of your towns within the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor.
Joshua 24:15 Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, . . . ; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."
Acts 6:2 And the twelve called together the whole community of the disciples and said, "It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait on tables.
Ephesians 6:23 Peace be to the whole community, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
“How do you find identity and practice faith as a member of a community?” (These Days, August 25, 2024)
I often speak and write about community. One of my favorite themes is Christianity as a community or a family of faith. The Septuagint Bible uses several Greek words which we sometimes translate as ‘community.’ On occasion both ἀδελφός (adelphos, brother) and πόλις (polis, city) are used in the plural form to convey our idea of
community.
The word ‘Christendom’ is not frequently encountered in everyday conversation. I do remember its use in one of my seminary courses on church history. It basically means the totality of believers worldwide. Those of us who believe in Jesus as the Christ are members of the community of Christendom. There are 2.4 billion (Wikipedia) Christians in the world today. We are part of a really big community!
Within the community of Christendom, there are many different denominations. “Today, there are over 40,000 different Christian denominations around the world, with new ones emerging all the time.” (christianeducatorsacademy.com) I suspect each of those 40,000 would answer that question about finding identity and practicing faith in slightly different ways. “There are approximately 4 million Christian churches worldwide.” (research.lifeway.com) Again, I suspect each would answer that question about finding identity and practicing faith in slightly different ways.
So, who is right? Who is best? Which way of identifying and practicing faith is the true and correct way? I confess, I have a penchant for questions not easily answered. For many of us, our answer is probably, “Mine!’ But, we cannot all be equally correct . . . or., can we?
Maybe the even larger question is whether or not there is one and only one correct way to find identity and practice faith. Some denominations and some congregations are asking themselves that today. As Christian church membership and attendance decline in western Europe and throughout much of the United States, many are reevaluating traditional ways of finding identity and practicing faith.
In recent years there have been several movements trying to recapture the practices of the 1st century churches, sometimes referred to as ‘primitive churches.’ There have been attempts by some congregations to divest themselves of ‘brick and mortar’ buildings and to use the resulting money to combat food insecurity or housing insecurity. Even writing or talking about such subjects can be very uncomfortable for some.
As people of faith, as Christians who remember “Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” such topics are difficult. They should be. And, sometimes we are misled to believe that there is one correct answer. There is not.
Christianity, Christian belief and faith, is neither simple nor easy. Although most agree with Paul that our salvation is through our faith in Jesus, finding our identity and practicing our faith occurs through a multiplicity of traditions and liturgies. Each of those 2.4 billion people is an individual child of God. We do witness and practice our faith through our worship traditions, our denominations and congregations. Each of us must find our own path to answer Joshua’s challenge. I find my own answer, my path through the congregation with which I worship. I find it in our traditional and historic facility. I find it in our traditional and faith-filled order of worship. I find identity and practice faith as a member of a specific congregation in a specific denomination. How do you?
Stay safe, witness your faith, trust God,
Pastor Ray