It was the poet John Donne who wrote:
No man is an island entire of itself.
The poem goes on to say: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.
According to Rick Warren it is through fellowship that the church grows warmer. In other words, relationships develop and deepen through regular contact. This is not rocket science, in fact we all know that in order to build good relationships the two things we need are time and proximity. Fellowship is a key characteristic of what it means to be the people of God together on a journey. There is no escaping it.
It was in sharing fellowship that the early church developed it’s communal life. Because they were together they could pray together they could share together the joys and struggles of living lives dedicated to God. It was because of fellowship that Luke could describe the early church as a community in which no one was in need, and historians of the age would marvel at the love shared among those early followers of Jesus.
The reason the Bible doesn’t give us much instruction about how to live the life of a lone believer is because we are made for community. We were meant to be in a community of faith. We are, to use Rick Warren’s phrase, Formed for God’s family.
The OT is the story of the people of God as they journey through the wilderness, make their home in the Promised Land, lose and return to it. Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God, about those who followed him, who listened to what he had to say, as his family, his brothers and sisters. Paul writes to the churches of God in Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia, Philippi, Thessalonica, and Colossae. He speaks often about loving each other, comforting each other, encouraging each other, even correcting and rebuking each other. His favourite image to describe the church is a body where every one plays a part. Even when he writes to an individual, Timothy, Titus, Onesimus, it’s in the context of being a community.
Fellowship is important because we were designed to share life together.
Fellowship is important because we are exiles, we don’t belong in this world, this kingdom this host empire in which we find ourselves. If we feel like we do belong, then we’ve become too comfortable.
Fellowship and the credit crunch
How does being a family affect the way we live in these times of insecurity and instability in the markets? Is it every man or woman for themselves? Do we revert to a “Charity begins at home” mentality? Or do we make a stand and say we part of a bigger family. We carry responsibility for a wider family.
Being God’s family in troubled times is a tough choice. To remain generous and outwardly focused is harder when the going gets tough. But God has called us to live differently in the world. To have security in him, not ourselves, not the financial markets, not bricks and mortar but hope and faith.
Let’s finish with a prayer for our troubled times:
Lord God, we live in disturbing days:
across the world,
prices rise,
debts increase,
banks collapse,
jobs are taken away,
and fragile security is under threat.
Lord God, we live in disturbing days:
across the world,
prices rise,
debts increase,
banks collapse,
jobs are taken away,
and fragile security is under threat.
Loving God, meet us in our fear and hear our prayer:
be a tower of strength amidst the shifting sands,
and a light in the darkness;
help us receive your gift of peace,
and fix our hearts where true joys are to be found,
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
be a tower of strength amidst the shifting sands,
and a light in the darkness;
help us receive your gift of peace,
and fix our hearts where true joys are to be found,
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
