When I was in upper elementary and middle school, I played on the basketball team. Not because I was good at it, but because all my friends played. On scrimmage day though, the coach would divide all the guys up to play against each other, and he would say we were going to play shirts versus skins. I was chunky in school and mortified at the thought of having to take my shirt off in front of all my friends and play basketball. Every single week, the coach would put us through this whole process of separating us out, and my heart would pound out of my chest just praying I would not get put on the skins team. However, low and behold God heard my prayers. Not once did I ever get put on the skins team. As I grew older, I figured out that it wasn’t necessarily that God heard my prayers, it was more our coach put all the chubby boys on the shirts team and only had the more fit guys play on skins. I am still forever grateful for coach separating us fat boys out from the skinny guys.
Isn’t it crazy to think about though? All through our lives, we are labeled and separated out by those labels. Chubby vs. Skinny, Gifted vs. Normal, Band Geek vs. Sports Jock, College vs. Trade School, Alabama Fan vs. Auburn fan, Republican vs. Democrat. Everywhere we look, our entire lives people want to label us and put us in these boxes.
Some labels are fun, some are hurtful, and some are just a part of life. However, it’s interesting to me that we love to label one another. We like to separate people into these stereotypes. However, yet, we hate to be labeled. Alternatively, if we are going to be labeled, then we want to make sure everyone else is labeled just like us. Moreover, we draw toward people separated into the same categories we have been placed in.
Here’s the deal. Life isn’t that simple. God has created each of us unique individuals. With our own set of talents, likes, dislikes, preferences, and opinions. Not only that, our life circumstances, our upbringings, our ages, our worldviews are all so different. So that means, we are going to end up in the same room, in the same office building, in the same pews, even in the same households with people who don’t fit into our labels, who think differently than we do and who will never see our point of view.
If that is the case, how in the world can we ever really accomplish this thing we call the “communion of saints”?
When we hear the word “communion” our minds go to the Lord’s Supper. However, this communion of saints that we say that we believe in is more than just bread and grape juice at the end of worship gatherings. This use of the word communion means “the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a spiritual level.”(Google Search)
The sharing of intimate thoughts and intimate feelings on a spiritual level? You want me to share these things with who? People who voted differently than I did? People, that share different opinions about the flag and the national anthem than I do? People, who cheer for the other team? People, who think differently about human sexuality?
There’s no way. How can I let my guard down? How can I have a real conversation with these people? I mean, you can’t post anything to social media without upsetting someone? Our culture is set up to be separated. News shows purposely invite opposing guests on for every single topic to scream at one another over every issue. Even our leadership in the government is split and divided by an aisle. Democrats on one side of the aisle, Republicans on the other; how dare you cross the aisle.
However, here’s the thing, the world loves to divide and separate. However, you and I, if we are Christians, we are not of this world. We are set apart to be different.
In Genesis, we see God going on walks with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the evening. God enjoyed spending time with them. Then we talked about Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. God so desperately wanted to commune with us, God becomes one of us. Then so that we could be empowered to sustain this good news of the gospel to the world, the Holy Spirit now lives within us and has communion with our spirits.
When we look at the example of relationship and communion that God has with us, we see something entirely different than what we are experiencing in our world right now. Just look at the life of Jesus. When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, they were sharing a drink of water. When Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house, they shared a meal together. As Jesus’ feet were washed with tears and dried with the hair of the prostitute, he was eating at a table with religious leaders. As he shared his last meal with Judas and the rest of the disciples, it was around a table.
Time after time we see Jesus at a table with people. However, when we take a closer look at the people he is dining with, it’s not at all people who were identical to him and whom he agreed with 100%. Instead, it was tax collectors who stole from people; it was religious leaders who took advantage of the poor and illiterate. It was with prostitutes and sinners. People who it was apparent, Jesus wouldn’t have approved of things happening in their lives or the way they believed about specific topics. However, Jesus knew something that I think it would be helpful for us to learn. We don’t have to agree 100% with people to sit at the same table.
A few years ago I heard Jen Hatmaker speak at a pastors conference. During the question and answer portion of the conference, Jen was asked why she had not publicly taken a stance one way or the other on the topic of LGBTQ. Jen simply replied, “because I believe that some topics are best discussed among friends around a table.”
That statement changed my view on life. What Jen was saying is the same thing I believe Jesus was teaching us. There is something special about sharing a meal together, living life with people and breaking bread together. Something happens around a table that allows us to let down our guard. Around a table, conversations happen that might not happen anywhere else. You get to learn things about one another and hear each other’s stories.
Moreover, you won't get to know me, and I won’t get to know you until we share a meal together or grab a cup of coffee together. Once we get to know one another, it breaks down those walls of judgment and lets us see one another’s hearts. Once we understand the mileage of a person’s shoes and the things that make their hearts sing and the experiences they have been through, it’s a lot harder to hate them. It’s a lot more difficult to call them names and condemn them to hell. It’s easy to sit behind a computer screen and write hateful words to and about people we have never met. However, once we have communed together and shared our intimate thoughts and feelings, things become a little different.
If we genuinely want to see a world at peace. If we genuinely want to love our neighbors. If we genuinely want to leave the world a better place for our kids and grandkids and if we honestly do believe in the communion of saints, then there are some changes we’re going to have to make and some things we are going to have to start doing.
First, we must stop worrying if someone’s opinions are different from your views. St. Augustine said, “in the essentials, unity, in the non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity.” So ask yourself, what are the essentials? For Christians, the essentials to our faith are:
a. The deity of Christ, meaning the belief that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully Human.
b. Salvation is by God’s grace through the death of Jesus Christ alone and not by our works,
c. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and is alive today.
d. Monotheism, meaning we believe in only one God
e. The one God is represented in three parts through the Holy Trinity of God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
That’s it. Those are the essentials. Those are the things on which we must agree. So what are the non-essentials? Everything else. Any topic you hear people arguing about, any issue that we study and talk about, anything you may question or aren’t sure. Those things are non-essential if they aren’t on the previous list. So in those things, there is liberty. Sure there are non-essentials on which the bible touches. However, not even 100% of well-versed bible scholars agree on the context, and the correct translation on most the non-essentials argued about today.
Finally, whether or not you agree with someone on the essentials or the non-essentials or you don’t agree on anything at all; we must have charity. (meaning, the love of humankind). We must have a love for everyone no matter what our differing opinions are. If we want to see the world at peace, the first thing is to stop allowing other people’s opinions to be a basis for our love of one another.
Second, we must find some commonality. Grab some coffee or offer to buy lunch. Get to know people on a deeper level. Be an active listener, hear what people are saying rather than preparing a rebuttal while they are talking. When we find commonality, we get to understand we aren’t alone in this world, and we might have more in common with the people around us than we even think. So we have to stop worrying about other people’s opinions and find some commonality.
Third, people already know what you are against, and they don’t care. The entire world knows what most evangelical Christians are against. They know most Christians are anti-LGBTQIA. They know most Christians are against kids out of wedlock and against abortions. They know most Christians are against people of other religions. They know, and they are tired of hearing about it because they don’t care. People want to see what you are for, not listen to what you are against. Are you for feeding the hungry, are you for loving your neighbor, are you for taking care of widows and orphans, are you for spreading grace and love? What are you for? People want to be a part of something greater than themselves. People want to be a part of something that matters and makes a difference in the world. They can get that at their local homeless shelter or local food bank or local charity. They don’t have to come to the church to be apart of those things anymore. Therefore, they don’t see a need for the church at all anymore because while the church has been busy and concerned about making sure the world knew what it is against, the world has been finding other things that make a difference in their lives because they want a cause in which to believe. Not a club of people whose only purpose is to make people less than. ****( Major note to my friends who identify as LGBTQIA, not all Christians are anti-you, against you or hate you. Some Christians are for you, love you and identify as LGBTQIA themselves.)
Finally, when it comes to fellow believers, we have to understand that the body of Christ cannot function at 100% without every member doing their part.
1 Corinthians 12:20–25 (NIV)
20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with extraordinary modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
The Holy Spirit has equipped each of us with a unique set of abilities and talents. Each of us has our part in the body of Christ that we have to play. For the body of Christ to function at 100%, we need each part of the body doing their part. Think about our bodies. If we don’t take care of our lungs and our lungs shut down, then the rest of the body suffers. If we stub and break our toe, even though it’s not as dangerous at the lung, it is still an essential part because a fractured toe affects your balance and the pain can affect your ability to think straight. When we have quarrels and strife within our own body of Christ, how can we ever be effective ministers of the gospel to the world?
What would it be like if the entire body of Christ, all around the world, could gather at the same table for a meal together? To find some commonality, to share in each other's burdens and to encourage each other? What kind of change would we see in our world if we were able to do that?
The cool thing is, when we share in the Lord's Supper (aka - The Eucharist or Communion), we are doing just that. This communion with the saints needs to happen much more often than only on the first Sunday of the month though. So, who can you take for coffee this week? Who can you grill a burger with? Will you be brave enough to choose someone who you know sees life differently than you?
Isn’t it crazy to think about though? All through our lives, we are labeled and separated out by those labels. Chubby vs. Skinny, Gifted vs. Normal, Band Geek vs. Sports Jock, College vs. Trade School, Alabama Fan vs. Auburn fan, Republican vs. Democrat. Everywhere we look, our entire lives people want to label us and put us in these boxes.
Some labels are fun, some are hurtful, and some are just a part of life. However, it’s interesting to me that we love to label one another. We like to separate people into these stereotypes. However, yet, we hate to be labeled. Alternatively, if we are going to be labeled, then we want to make sure everyone else is labeled just like us. Moreover, we draw toward people separated into the same categories we have been placed in.
Here’s the deal. Life isn’t that simple. God has created each of us unique individuals. With our own set of talents, likes, dislikes, preferences, and opinions. Not only that, our life circumstances, our upbringings, our ages, our worldviews are all so different. So that means, we are going to end up in the same room, in the same office building, in the same pews, even in the same households with people who don’t fit into our labels, who think differently than we do and who will never see our point of view.
If that is the case, how in the world can we ever really accomplish this thing we call the “communion of saints”?
When we hear the word “communion” our minds go to the Lord’s Supper. However, this communion of saints that we say that we believe in is more than just bread and grape juice at the end of worship gatherings. This use of the word communion means “the sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, especially when the exchange is on a spiritual level.”(Google Search)
The sharing of intimate thoughts and intimate feelings on a spiritual level? You want me to share these things with who? People who voted differently than I did? People, that share different opinions about the flag and the national anthem than I do? People, who cheer for the other team? People, who think differently about human sexuality?
There’s no way. How can I let my guard down? How can I have a real conversation with these people? I mean, you can’t post anything to social media without upsetting someone? Our culture is set up to be separated. News shows purposely invite opposing guests on for every single topic to scream at one another over every issue. Even our leadership in the government is split and divided by an aisle. Democrats on one side of the aisle, Republicans on the other; how dare you cross the aisle.
However, here’s the thing, the world loves to divide and separate. However, you and I, if we are Christians, we are not of this world. We are set apart to be different.
In Genesis, we see God going on walks with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the evening. God enjoyed spending time with them. Then we talked about Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. God so desperately wanted to commune with us, God becomes one of us. Then so that we could be empowered to sustain this good news of the gospel to the world, the Holy Spirit now lives within us and has communion with our spirits.
When we look at the example of relationship and communion that God has with us, we see something entirely different than what we are experiencing in our world right now. Just look at the life of Jesus. When Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, they were sharing a drink of water. When Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house, they shared a meal together. As Jesus’ feet were washed with tears and dried with the hair of the prostitute, he was eating at a table with religious leaders. As he shared his last meal with Judas and the rest of the disciples, it was around a table.
Time after time we see Jesus at a table with people. However, when we take a closer look at the people he is dining with, it’s not at all people who were identical to him and whom he agreed with 100%. Instead, it was tax collectors who stole from people; it was religious leaders who took advantage of the poor and illiterate. It was with prostitutes and sinners. People who it was apparent, Jesus wouldn’t have approved of things happening in their lives or the way they believed about specific topics. However, Jesus knew something that I think it would be helpful for us to learn. We don’t have to agree 100% with people to sit at the same table.
A few years ago I heard Jen Hatmaker speak at a pastors conference. During the question and answer portion of the conference, Jen was asked why she had not publicly taken a stance one way or the other on the topic of LGBTQ. Jen simply replied, “because I believe that some topics are best discussed among friends around a table.”
That statement changed my view on life. What Jen was saying is the same thing I believe Jesus was teaching us. There is something special about sharing a meal together, living life with people and breaking bread together. Something happens around a table that allows us to let down our guard. Around a table, conversations happen that might not happen anywhere else. You get to learn things about one another and hear each other’s stories.
Moreover, you won't get to know me, and I won’t get to know you until we share a meal together or grab a cup of coffee together. Once we get to know one another, it breaks down those walls of judgment and lets us see one another’s hearts. Once we understand the mileage of a person’s shoes and the things that make their hearts sing and the experiences they have been through, it’s a lot harder to hate them. It’s a lot more difficult to call them names and condemn them to hell. It’s easy to sit behind a computer screen and write hateful words to and about people we have never met. However, once we have communed together and shared our intimate thoughts and feelings, things become a little different.
If we genuinely want to see a world at peace. If we genuinely want to love our neighbors. If we genuinely want to leave the world a better place for our kids and grandkids and if we honestly do believe in the communion of saints, then there are some changes we’re going to have to make and some things we are going to have to start doing.
First, we must stop worrying if someone’s opinions are different from your views. St. Augustine said, “in the essentials, unity, in the non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity.” So ask yourself, what are the essentials? For Christians, the essentials to our faith are:
a. The deity of Christ, meaning the belief that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully Human.
b. Salvation is by God’s grace through the death of Jesus Christ alone and not by our works,
c. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and is alive today.
d. Monotheism, meaning we believe in only one God
e. The one God is represented in three parts through the Holy Trinity of God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
That’s it. Those are the essentials. Those are the things on which we must agree. So what are the non-essentials? Everything else. Any topic you hear people arguing about, any issue that we study and talk about, anything you may question or aren’t sure. Those things are non-essential if they aren’t on the previous list. So in those things, there is liberty. Sure there are non-essentials on which the bible touches. However, not even 100% of well-versed bible scholars agree on the context, and the correct translation on most the non-essentials argued about today.
Finally, whether or not you agree with someone on the essentials or the non-essentials or you don’t agree on anything at all; we must have charity. (meaning, the love of humankind). We must have a love for everyone no matter what our differing opinions are. If we want to see the world at peace, the first thing is to stop allowing other people’s opinions to be a basis for our love of one another.
Second, we must find some commonality. Grab some coffee or offer to buy lunch. Get to know people on a deeper level. Be an active listener, hear what people are saying rather than preparing a rebuttal while they are talking. When we find commonality, we get to understand we aren’t alone in this world, and we might have more in common with the people around us than we even think. So we have to stop worrying about other people’s opinions and find some commonality.
Third, people already know what you are against, and they don’t care. The entire world knows what most evangelical Christians are against. They know most Christians are anti-LGBTQIA. They know most Christians are against kids out of wedlock and against abortions. They know most Christians are against people of other religions. They know, and they are tired of hearing about it because they don’t care. People want to see what you are for, not listen to what you are against. Are you for feeding the hungry, are you for loving your neighbor, are you for taking care of widows and orphans, are you for spreading grace and love? What are you for? People want to be a part of something greater than themselves. People want to be a part of something that matters and makes a difference in the world. They can get that at their local homeless shelter or local food bank or local charity. They don’t have to come to the church to be apart of those things anymore. Therefore, they don’t see a need for the church at all anymore because while the church has been busy and concerned about making sure the world knew what it is against, the world has been finding other things that make a difference in their lives because they want a cause in which to believe. Not a club of people whose only purpose is to make people less than. ****( Major note to my friends who identify as LGBTQIA, not all Christians are anti-you, against you or hate you. Some Christians are for you, love you and identify as LGBTQIA themselves.)
Finally, when it comes to fellow believers, we have to understand that the body of Christ cannot function at 100% without every member doing their part.
1 Corinthians 12:20–25 (NIV)
20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with extraordinary modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
The Holy Spirit has equipped each of us with a unique set of abilities and talents. Each of us has our part in the body of Christ that we have to play. For the body of Christ to function at 100%, we need each part of the body doing their part. Think about our bodies. If we don’t take care of our lungs and our lungs shut down, then the rest of the body suffers. If we stub and break our toe, even though it’s not as dangerous at the lung, it is still an essential part because a fractured toe affects your balance and the pain can affect your ability to think straight. When we have quarrels and strife within our own body of Christ, how can we ever be effective ministers of the gospel to the world?
What would it be like if the entire body of Christ, all around the world, could gather at the same table for a meal together? To find some commonality, to share in each other's burdens and to encourage each other? What kind of change would we see in our world if we were able to do that?
The cool thing is, when we share in the Lord's Supper (aka - The Eucharist or Communion), we are doing just that. This communion with the saints needs to happen much more often than only on the first Sunday of the month though. So, who can you take for coffee this week? Who can you grill a burger with? Will you be brave enough to choose someone who you know sees life differently than you?
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