A Meditation from Peter

From the Daily Office Lectionary for Thursday, July 20, 2006

Epistle Reading - Romans 12:1-8

 

We Americans are big on individuality. We live with the constant temptation, therefore, to turn Christianity into something it isn’t - an individual “me and God” kind of faith. Paul uses the metaphor in Romans 8 of the people of God - the church - being the body of Christ. “For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Romans 12:4-5)

 

I love that last phrase - “individually members one of another”. Not only does God choose all of us and call us into ministry (service that helps establish the kingdom of God here on earth), but you have a call upon my life, and I have a call upon yours! We need each other. More than that, we are bound to each other in Christ. We cannot be the body of Christ unless we each offer our gifts, our love, our encouragement - our lives, really, “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God”. (Romans 12:1)

 

Verna Dozier, in the new book Confronted by God: The Essential Verna Dozier, writes: “The church is the people of God, and there is no such thing as a solitary Christian. A Christian is a member of that body.” (p.134) I totally agree. You cannot be a Christian by yourself, no matter how many people might suggest something to the contrary. Each of us has our own relationship with God through Christ - yes. But we are not the body of Christ - we are not the church - and in a very real sense, we are not Christians - without each other.

 

I know that I would not be a person of faith today were it not for all the people of faith whose lives intersected with my life, and who have had a significant influence on me and my faith development - by how they lived, what they taught me, and how they demonstrated the love of God to me. I don’t think God calls us individually, one by one, to be his people. He calls us - collectively - to be his people. And that makes things a lot more interesting, a lot more fun, a lot more frustrating, and a lot more complicated.

 

What does it mean for you to be part of this church we call St. Ambrose? What unique gifts and perspectives do you bring, that our community needs, if we are to be whole? What do you receive from other members of this body? If it is true that “there is no such thing as a solitary Christian”, what are the implications of that for your life?