What Does It Mean to Love the Church

This is a question I am asking myself and anyone who may read this blog note. In this case I am not talking about loving the church in the sense of the whole Body of Christ on earth. Rather, I am reflecting on what it means to love a congregation of church members.

To truly love the church one must be more than a "worker bee." It seems to me that one must hold the church--every member of the church--in their hearts. As the song says, "I will hold your people in my heart." Back stabbing, power plays, manipulation of people and situations, condescending attitudes or behavior are not the marks of one who truly loves the church and holds the members of the church in their heart. But this is answering the question in a negative way. What does it mean to love the church? How does one show their love for the congregation? I have started a possible list and I would appreciate your responses:

How does one love the church?

• Attends worship services on a regular basis
• Prays for the church and its mission on a daily basis
• Attends Christian Education programs
• Sunday school
• Bible study

• Shows genuine concern and respect for every member of the congregation
• Nonjudgmental
• Shows compassion
• Impartial--no cliques
• Speaks and acts toward other members in a way honors the dignity of the other

• Participates fully  in the fellowship of the congregation (not necessarily every activity or function)
• Respects the dignity of  others even in a disagreement
• Discrete
• Respectful
• Even tempered
• Patient
• Charitable

• Supports the congregation with "time, talents, and treasure"

Boundaries

Psalm 16 speaks to us of boundaries. Those who trust in the Lord are protected by God. The Lord puts a boundary between them and evil doers. And those who live within the boundaries God has established are happy. And the evangelist who wrote 1 Peter agrees: Those who have faith have the inheritance of new and eternal life, protected by God. The Lord has placed a boundary line between us and death through the resurrection of Jesus.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, ⁷ so that the genuineness of your faith—being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1: 3-9 NRSV)

In the beginning God created. That’s what the scriptures say. And with everything else God created, the Lord created boundaries. He placed a boundary between the heavens and the earth. There is a boundary between the oceans and the dry land. He separated the light from the dark and day from night. Those are boundaries. And he set boundaries for human beings as well.

God told Adam and Eve to go and populate the earth, to increase in number, and have dominion over all things on earth. But God still set boundaries. God said of all the wonderful trees in the garden Adam and Eve could eat freely. “Except,” God said, “do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” That’s a boundary.

Maybe we learned it from God, but we set boundaries, too. We set boundaries between states, and nations. We build walls between ourselves and our neighbors. And sometimes we even build walls between ourselves and God. But that’s another sermon.

We also set boundaries for our children. When they are very young we tell them where they can play. “Don’t go across the street.” Or, “Don’t go off the block.” On occasion we tell them who they can play with and who they need to stay away from.

When they grow up we set boundaries about study time and leisure. We set a curfew time and a lights out time. Human begins live inside boundaries and we set boundaries for ourselves and for others.

We often think of boundaries as bad things. Boundaries hold us back, contain us, restrict us. But boundaries are good things.

They tell us how far we can go and they protect us from others who may want to violate our space. And the boundaries God has established are good for us, too. When we stay within the boundaries we live at peace with ourselves and with God. Most of the time we can say with the Psalmist, “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.”

And the writer of 1 Peter agrees. The evangelist says that those who believe in the resurrection of Christ, those who accept its promise, have received hope of new life—even in the face of death. Our new life is kept for us, unfading, incorruptible, and undefiled according to the grace and mercy of God.

Fallen Empires

Ezekiel was the prophet known by his vivid visions. In Ezekiel 37: 1-14 we hear Ezekiel describing a vision he had about the “resurrection” of his beloved Israel.

“The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.” So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.‘ ” (Ezekiel 37:1–14, NRSV)

We know that throughout history greations, even empires, have been born and then died. And those that didn't become extinct survive to this day, but they are different than when they were young and vital.

Some interpreters have argued that this passage from Ezekiel is about personal resurrection; that it is a vision ehiovh teaches how God brings new life after death to believers. But at the time Ezekiel had this vision the people didn’t understand personal resurrection. They did, however, believe that their God would not abandon them forever. They believed that in time God would bless Israel again and bring the nation a new life.
 

So, the dry bones are a vision of Israel dried out and deteriorating in a foreign land, Babylon. Away from Jerusalem, with the temple destroyed, and living in captivity in Babylon they felt like dried bones baking in the desert sun.

Then, Ezekiel had his vision of dry bones. God breathes new life into the bones. They begin to come together, bone to bone. They grow new sinew and muscle and flesh. Israel lives again!

Like others, I have been closely watching the developements among the nations of Northern Africa. We have been seeing the transformation of whole nations right before our eyes. And then I began to think about our own nation.

Although we are not in open rebellion, we are troubled. Our economy has been shaken to its very foundations. And I watched this past week as our national leaders argued about how to cut billions upon billions of dollars from our current budget. And again I thought of Ezekiel and his vision of dry bones.

We are not dead as a nation, but we are struggling. And I honestly believe that our leaders are trying to give us new strength. But, without the Spirit of God, without God breathing new life into us their efforts will likely fail, or at least fall short.

As a nation we need to pray, not so much for God to give us prosperity, or power, or authority. What we need to pray for is God’s spirit to breathe on us and give us new life. The Hebrew language calls it nefesh—the spirit of life and vitality, wholeness. So, let us pray together for God to revive us, to breathe into us, and give us new life.