THIS IS WHAT WE DO...
John Wesley had what I think is the all-time most accurate quote about Christianity when, in his sermon on Matthew 5:13-16, he said the following:
Christianity is essentially a social religion;
and that to turn it into a solitary one is to destroy it.
I, and almost every clergyperson, gets asked a lot about why is it so important to go to church. After all, the thinking goes, my faith is about me and God and I don't need anyone or anything else to worship God, so I'll take it when I want it, but I don't want to be held accountable for when I choose to not participate, for it's no one else's business.
This quote of Wesley's was on my mind yesterday as we gathered for what many presumed to be just another Sunday at worship. But, as we all should know by now, you just never know what's going to happen when God's people show up for worship. Yesterday, we were all privileged to participate in the baptism of our own Brittney Bond, who has been a part of our congregation for over 5 years now, having showed up as an eighth-grader, invited by a friend, and now brings others in her family to worship.
We never know how important it is to be active in the church, because often times we make it about us - what we want to get out of it, what we think we should get out of it, what we think should be happening and what we think is happening that shouldn't be happening.
However, what gets lost is what is happening in the lives of others when we simply go about our business of being the body of Christ. Over the past five years or so, simply by being a community of love, grace, and forgiveness, you have nurtured Brittney into accepting that free gift of grace that God offers through the waters of baptism, leading her to publicly profess her faith in Christ through the liturgy of the service. Represented by her sponsors and mentors, Gary and Shelley Holcomb, you affirmed the role of the church in the spiritual formation of all those gathered as this body of Christ, and the church universal.
Wesley's observation of Christianity hit the nail on the head, for if we were left to our own devices, we would never experience God's grace in the truly unique ways that can be found only through the community of faith known as the church.
Oh, and I can guarantee you one thing is for sure - there is one of the newest professing Christians in the world, Brittney Bond, who is certainly grateful that we don't believe that Christianity is a solitary religion, for if we acted that way, who knows where she might have found herself.
To God be the Glory!
Grace and Peace, Lamar