My friend Elaine, at Peace for the Journey, blogged this weekend about the journey the Lord is walking with her as she does my Bible study. She is doing a giveaway for a copy of From the Trash Pile to the Treasure Chest: Creating a Godly Legacy over at her blog. Click here to go register.
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On a sunny Saturday in October, I experienced a new religion. It was a religion of unity and harmony among the believers where all the faithful desired the same end result. No one seemed interested in procuring more attention for themselves than for the one to whom the attention should be given. The leader of this group recognized that the congregation was not present only to see him, but rather he was a part of the whole they came to see.
There was harmony and a spirit of camraderie and familiarity. If you bore the mark of the faithful, you were part of the family regardless of background or social standing. All were gathered for the same reason and everyone was genuinely excited to be present. Songs were sung, pledges of faithfulness were made, and praises were given to the one who reigned supreme.
I was given the assurance of the group who invited me to attend that I, too, could be considered part of the faithful if only I was willing to take on a measure of their identity with the organization. I am seriously considering their offer.
I sat as a spectator to this phenomenon and thought how different the church of Jesus Christ would be if we, too, gathered in unity and harmony for the purpose of worshipping and proclaiming the name of Jesus. If we ceased the denominational and internal bickering that so often arises and instead focused our efforts on living lives that evidenced the mercy and grace offered by Jesus.
I fear that all too often the label ‘Christian’ is not one that bespeaks unity, love and grace. According to research done by The Barna Group and reported by David Kinnaman in the book entitled unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters, among unchurched young people in America, Christians are judgmental, hypocritical, out of touch with reality and insensitive to others…and those are the nicer things that were said about those of us who call ourselves ‘Christians’.
In his final hours on earth, Jesus prayed for his followers in John 17:23 (NIV). He said, “I in them and You in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.” Complete unity. Jesus fully intended for His church to function as a body, working together for the glory of the true King of Kings.
It is sad when the ‘world’ puts forth a better picture of unity and harmony than the church. On that Saturday at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, the Bulldog Nation stood in unity behind their beloved coach and football team. I was an outsider, having gone to college at a different school, yet I felt a welcoming spirit from those around me. My husband, who went to the University of Georgia to pharmacy school and the Medical College of Georgia to dental school, assures me that it is possible for one like me to be grafted into the Bulldawg family. I think I would like that.
Do you and I live out our Christianity in such a way that others who are not Christians desire to be part of the body of Christ? Do we do ministry in a manner that is exciting, loving, and inviting? It is something to ponder.
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