church membership

Have you ever heard someone ask which church do you belong?  Has someone said "would you like to find out how to become a member, or what it means to be a member of this congregation?

Reminded of this this morning as listening to an invite to a "New Friends" dinner.  Also, happens regularly at work when discussing what we did on the weekend.

As we know from scripture, as believers in Christ, as his followers, we enter into his people.  We become a member.  We enter into his church, his body.  As such you can never be late to church, never be absent, or on holiday.

So to ask which church we belong to is a redundant question.  All believers belong to the same church.  So the question must be being asked in terms of which tribe do you belong.  Okay we already trust in this.

But what is rattling around in me is the flip-side of that coin.  Since we are of the one body, to love put this reality means being able to enter into any tribal gathering in peace.  Why?  Because we already belong.  It is therefore possible to see and live in such a way that these are my people though they may not accept me in return.

The other point is that when a congregation speaks of membership what do they mean?  Are they speaking of people who turn up (attend) or those who are pursuing Him?   Thus, on Sunday there may be 200 people in the room, but maybe only 1 or 2 followers.  Indeed, this can be true of those called elders and leaders etc.

But here too what do our eyes see?  Unbelievers, the lost, the distracted, the tribal, or people who Christ still died for?  Do they treat his sacrifice in vain?  Maybe but is that our call when restoration always is possible

Should we accept the dysfunctions of today's tribal church?  No.  But then ask, if sectarianism is not God's will, and a house divided is bound to fall, then, maybe we need to approach our church family as we would any other person.

If sunday services, as they stand today, are the same in essence as any other sphere, broken, and we are to live as Christ did/does, then we need to be about pointing to the exit door in the knowledge that all systems are already destroyed.

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prodigal

"And the buttons glow in the dark"

It is great to revisit the parable of the prodigal son.  A story, amongst others, spoken by Jesus to the pharisees and teachers of religious law, and likely in the presence of the tax collectors and other notorious sinners who often came to listen to him.

The one lost sheep among one hundred.  The one lost coin among the ten.  The lost son

As I read this I see parts like the guy being lost, dead, etc... or about redemption, love, relationship... or attitude of the brother who stayed..,

Or when a message is preached from the pulpit I am reminded of how I am like the lost son or the brother who stayed is like religious people.  Great analogy as it meets the reason why Jesus said it to the Pharisees etc

But what I am also caused to contemplate is at what point did the lost guy stop being the father's son?

When he left home?  When he rejected his father?

Then why is he always  referred to as a son?  Could it be that he was the father's son before he left, while gone, and when he returned?  Is there any part of the father's behaviour which indicates he stopped considering this guy as part of his family?

The same is true of the sheep and coins.  Being lost, found, reunited did not mean introducing another species into the flock, or a spoon into the money bag.  They were sheep/coins before they were lost, while lost, and when found.  Those doing the seeking knew this.  Do we?

So now I must ask how this revelation applies to me?

How does this look in the context of Jews and Gentiles?

How does it affect my neighbours, colleagues, friends, family, etc in their own right as well as how I view them?

What  if they are protestant, catholic, baptist,  liberal, conservative, hindu, atheist, muslim, pagan, etc?  Does God consider all people regardless of their social or religious background part of his family even while they are practicing it?  If no, then I must reevaluate how he viewed and even now views me.  But if he does, why don't we do the same?  Why do we treat people as if they are family only when they cross the official line of "being saved"?  Let's be honest, even that is often lacking unless a person meets our own personal preferences.

And if he has always considered us family, then I must go to him again and ask what he means by salvation, redemption, and restoration.  Is it about healing and making things right amongst his family, or about transforming spoons into coins, cows into sheep, people into christians?

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