Are you an active member
of the living church of Christ?
In his Last Supper
Discourse before his death, in John’s Gospel, Jesus laid out a plan for the
disciples to follow, a plan that indicates that they will now be charged to
take on all that Jesus has taught them and make it their own: whoever
believes in me will do the works that I do, he says. The disciples’ way of living, their way of
looking at life, is about to change radically because of the truth that Jesus
is revealing to them – because of his ministry, his word, his death, and his
rising. Jesus, who is perfect love, is the
way, the truth, and the source of
all life; all is revealed in
him. To be a living church, the
disciples must choose to believe in that truth; they must choose to embrace his
way, choose to live as though they are not afraid, so that love can flow from
them at all times. They must trust, as Psalm 33 exhorts them, in the works of the one who loves them, and act
in his stead. This is how they will become church,
a living body, the Body of Christ.
In Peter’s second letter
to the Christian diaspora, those who follow Jesus’ way – for Way will become the designation for the
official church – are called to become living
stone, extraordinary as that sounds, through
faith and obedience. Invited by God out of darkness and into his wonderful light, the disciples must become
a spiritual house, true church,
conscious members of the community that will later be known as Christian. To be a living
stone is extraordinary, possible only because Jesus, the first living stone, was himself
extraordinary: through our communal activity
as church, we give concrete evidence of spiritual connection we share, the bond
that holds us together, and of the extraordinary source of our very way of
being. It is from this place of community that we can, as the first
disciples in Acts, remain obedient to the
faith, always filled with the Spirit
and wisdom.
Know this: to live as a member of the extraordinary
living church of Christ, we have simply to follow his way… his example of
perfect love on earth.
This post is based on Fr.
Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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