Skip to main content

The Many and the Few

Is faith primarily a communal or individual thing? Throughout recent history we would have answered that faith is primarily an individual concern. Though all Christians recognize in some form or fashion a call to gather together, we have treated faith as a primarily private and personal affair.

This has led to a very consumeristic version of Christianity. People shop around at different churches like they would test drive cars. They compare features and accessories to see which one fits their "needs" and preferences. This individualistic faith means that everyone's opinions and views on God and the Bible count equally, no matter how outlandish the view.

While I think we have often erred on the side of individuality far too often and too strongly over the years, the solution is not to overreact and err on the side of community. If faith is only a communal thing, then there are no unique gifts or insights that can be offered by individuals. There is only what the tradition and institution says and that inevitably will stagnate.

In Scripture the Christian faith is always simultaneously a deeply individual and deeply communal relationship with Christ. It is individual because things like conscience are important. Individuals face judgment for their own deeds and words as is stated many times. It is communal because Jesus has called a people to minister to the world. A Christian really isn't a Christian unless they are connected to and a part of the Body.

We have to learn to navigate this dual reality. We are not called to lose our individuality in the community of Christ. We are also not called to base our entire faith on our individual whims and preferences. We are called to be fully formed persons who willingly and joyfully make ourselves a part of a tightly knit community of fellow believers. This isn't some mere social obligation that we can just leave behind whenever we choose. This community is to be our new family, just as dear and important as our own blood.

The community thrives when its individual members are all strong in their faith and growing to be more and more like Christ. Individual Christians grow strongest and encounter Christ most fully when they are bound up in a thriving community. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We Need More Images

What is your favorite way to describe God? Is there a particular name of God in scripture that you are drawn to? What images and pictures come to mind when you think of God? These are questions I don't think we ask often enough. We all have an image of God in our heads that we work with. It may not be a literal picture, though it might be, but ideas and concepts we tend to associate with who God is. Some of those images and associations may come from the Bible, but some may not. These things are influenced by our upbringing, Bible reading habits, personalities, relationships, culture, and more. The way we picture God has a dramatic impact on the way we live our lives. For example, if the primary idea you have of God is "Healer," when you hear or read that you are made in God's image you will likely feel called to heal, be it physical ailments or spiritual wounds. But, if your primary image of God is "Judge," that changes things. You very likely might tend to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be...
3 comments
Read more

The Early Middle Ages: Historical Friday

The next segment of history that we are going to overview is the Early Middle Ages. This dates roughly from AD 450 to AD 1100. This is intended to be a very general overview. There are probably historians that would classify some other time period as the "Early Middle Ages" or a more specific time period. For our purposes this will cover the aforementioned time period. This was a very influential period in the history of Christianity. It saw the formation of what we now call the Roman Catholic Church and its separation from what we would now call the Eastern Orthodox Church. Before this time there was only ONE church. There weren't different denominations or groups. It is hard for us to think about in our modern context, but there was a time when Christianity was visibly unified. Brief History The first major thing to happen during this time period is the remaining three ecumenical councils. We discussed the first four several weeks ago. These councils discussed va...
Post a Comment
Read more