Connections

The Bible has many metaphors for Christian connections, to each other in the church and to God. We are described as a building in Ephesians 2:22 "And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." We are described as a body in Romans 12:4-5 "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." We are described by Jesus as branches attached to a vine in John 15:4-5 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." We are also described as being part of a family in Romans 8:16 "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children."

All these descriptions of connections give us great insight into how the church is suppose to function and how we are to relate to God, or Jesus Christ. In the metaphor of a building we can imagine that we are all parts of a building, brick, mortar, pipes, electrical wire, the frame etc. and we all have to be connected together to support the structure of the building. As I heard a Pastor say, "A part of a building can be inside it but not be connected." Meaning, if you lay a pipe inside the building, but its not connected to any other plumbing pipes, just because it is laying inside the building doesn't make it a part of that building. This makes me imagine people that arrive to church on Sundays, sit in the pews, sing the songs, listen to the sermon, and then leave without really ever talking to another person or getting involved in the ministry of the church. They aren't connected. They are like an extra piece of pipe laying around a construction site waiting to be used. That's a sad image. But what a powerful image to think of how we are all a part of a structure, inter-connected, supporting each other's weight so the building can keep standing. Brick without mortar is just a pile of bricks, and drywall without a frame has nowhere to attach. Very powerful imagery.

We often hear the metaphor of being a part of the "body of Christ"... well, at least I have heard that one a lot. Its an interesting idea to ponder. Christ is the head of the body, and we are all joined together in Him, and if a part of the body is disconnected from the body it dies. If you remove a hand, then that hand will die. If you remove a nose, that nose will shrivel up and die... but the body can continue to live. And if all the body parts are people of the church, then you can see that we need each other to live. And we all to be connected to Christ (the head) to grow and get spiritually stronger, or we all will die. Are you connected to a body of believers? Are you attending a church? While it may not be necessary for your salvation to attend church, it is necessary for your spiritual growth. I believe that church is there for fellowship and for helping us grow stronger in our Faith, and to support each other. If your church isn't helping you do that, to feel connected, then perhaps you need to find another church... not just stop going all together. That is the temptation when a church fails to meet our spiritual needs, is it not? To stop going all together? But we all need to keep going and keep trying to attend a church for our own health spiritually and emotionally.

Being a branch attached to a vine was a metaphor Jesus used. He said that He is the vine and we are the branches. A branch not connected to its vine bears no fruit. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." If you aren't connected to Jesus, then you will not see yourself growing in those areas of the fruit of the Spirit. So, just as we need to be connected to each other so we don't die spiritually, we need to be connected to Jesus to grow spiritually.

The final metaphor is that we are like a family. This is why I call fellow Christians my brother or my sister. We have all been adopted as children of God, and we are all "born again" into his family once we are saved. Romans 8:16 says "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." I heard a pastor say that in Bible times parents were allowed to disown their naturally born children, but if they adopted a child they were not allowed to ever disown them. In Christ we are born again AND adopted as God's children. We can NEVER be disowned by God, Amen! That is such a wonderful and secure feeling. To be a part of the family of God is to never feel unloved. And the rest of us, as brothers and sisters, need to remember to love and accept everybody. This does not mean we need to also approve of everything a person does, but we can always accept them. We are not allowed to hate one another, as Christians. And as a pastor once said, "Giving a person what they need, not what they deserve, that is LOVE."

We may all have our disagreements about things, even if we are Christians, brothers and sisters. I, for example, accept Gays into the church with open arms. I believe that everyone should do the same. As for what we all approve of as behavior from of fellow LGBT siblings may differ greatly. But we can all at least agree that we are to accept, love and support them as being a part of "the building", keep connected with them and take care of them as if they were another part of our own body (because they are), and treat them as a part of the family of God. What I approve of does go as far as marriage between two adults, even if they are of the same sex. But I know some people aren't at this point themself, if they were then Proposition 8 wouldn't have passed as California law in November 2008. What I ask of you, dear brothers and sisters, is to remember that we are to love and accept them, that judgement belongs to the Lord, and that even if you do not approve of certain behaviors doesn't give you the right to treat them with hate. There are behaviors that I don't approve of myself, within the LGBT community (such as sexual promiscuity) but I do not hate those that behave that way. I do expect them, as well as any other Christian, to start to grow in their spiritual life and turn away from sin in their life. Step by step and day by day I do expect them to get stronger and show more fruit of the Spirit. But this may be a gradual process for some people, and I am not to judge them where they are. I am to encourage and support them and the help them grow. And that is what I hope I am able to do with this blog... encourage and support people as they continue on their Spiritual journey, Gay or Straight. And may God bless my efforts to do so.

Take care everbody... until next time, God bless!

P.S. The pastor I was quoting is Rick Warren. I went to his church Saturday, with my Siter-in-law, and wrote my blog using his sermon as inspiration. I know that many LGBT people are upset that he went to Washington D.C. to pray at the inaugaration of Obama, but we who are Christians need to remember to love even him. I know that he loves and accepts all people of all races, creeds, and sexual orientation. He may not accept the idea of same-sex marriage but he still loves you all. I chose not to use him name until the end so you could hear the words he said without judgement. I may not agree with him, or even my own pastor, but I know that what I believe and where my convictions are on the subject of same-sex marriage doesn't effect my salvation or the fact that so many LGBT people are saved and in wonderful partnerships that are as healthy and loving as my own marriage. And I know that I can disagree with a pastor or two and still love them anyway.