Something that every parent knows about is the routine. My daughter now knows the routine. When she wakes up she can find daddy downstairs, typically sitting with his espresso in the breakfast and perhaps we will go out to the local coffee shop to enjoy a cupcake while daddy gets another coffee. And if it is Tuesday evening, she knows that she can expect friends to come over for our church dinners. Finally we end with the bedtime routine that consists of story. The next day comes. She runs down with excitement as we then eat our oatmeal and orange juice together. Then books, brushing teeth, repeating our memory verses, and praying.
For my daughter, it is this routine which one can find both comfort and adventure, or better put peace and mission. This oscillation between between the two then twines them together into one life. Upon reflecting on the church’s life, I realized that there is also this oscillation. We are first baptized. We are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, absolutely. But we are also baptized into the body of Christ, the church. Years ago, churches would go to rivers. The person being baptized would stand on one bank while the congregation stood on the other with the pastor in the middle. The one to be baptized would walk towards the pastor and after being baptized join the congregation on the other side of the river. She has now become a part of the church. She was baptized into the church. Now that we are a part of the church, we can participate in the communion table. This communion where we receive the bread and the wine, the body and the blood of Jesus Christ. We are now taking the roles of the disciples on that final night before the crucifixion, receiving these gifts as if from Jesus himself. But why? Yes, it is to remember Christ’s sacrifice. But let us observe what happens. During the worship service we are seated separately, hearing the same message but perhaps taking different aspects from the sermon to be nourished. Now, we are summoned to come forward together and eat from the same bread and drink from the same cup. We, the whole lot of us, have now become the one, holy, catholic, apostolic church. God is forming the church through communion. But why? In order to fulfill the greatest commandment, to love God and love our neighbor. It is impossible to obey this commandment outside the church. Sure, we may be able to do one or the other, but it is impossible to do both. There is no such thing in the New Testament as a Christian without a church. It is unheard of, because the church is the community that is charged and equipped to love God and love our neighbor. So when we receive communion it brings us together as the church and strengthens us to fulfill the greatest commandment. But to what end? Why? In order to fulfill the Great Commission. The church (again not individuals) are called to go proclaiming the Gospel and to baptize in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach all of the commandments God has given us. And so we go, and baptize people into the church, so that they may partake in communion, in order to love God and love our neighbors, and proclaim the Gospel and baptize. It is an oscillation between shalom and mission. Constantly rotating back and forth until these two things twine together becoming the life of the church. And so the routine of the church, the life of the church, is this; baptize, commune, love, proclaim, baptize, commune, love, proclaim.
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Brief BioDaniel Archives
January 2016
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