My Friends in Christ,

Christian educator and writer Craig Dykstra, writes:

The process of coming to faith and growing in the life of faith is fundamentally a process of participation. We come to recognize and live in the Spirit as we participate more and more broadly and deeply in communities that know God’s love, acknowledge it, express it and live their lives in light of it.

I believe Dykstra has touched upon one of the well-springs of all who would proclaim to be “in Christ,” that is the need for community. Christianity is always practiced as a dimension of community. Even the hermit monks of the early church maintained a connection to the wider community because they recognized the dangers of being totally on their own. Christian community helps to teach, shape, form and correct its members. It is “in community” that the truest understanding of “loving God with all our heart, and loving our neighbor as ourselves” is encountered. It is in community that our self-delusions are challenged and our capabilities are collectively enhanced and expanded.

In Whispers of Love, Mitch Finley writes:

The Christian doctrine of the communion of saints is simple, really.
All it says is
that once you buy the farm, you still live on it.
All it says is
that those who have gone before us are still with us.
All it says is
that past generations still count and must be taken into account.
In other words,
we’re all in this together.
All of us.

We are never alone when we walk in Christ as the people of God. None of us live in total isolation from each other. And, none of us can be separated from the love of Jesus Christ. Whenever the confusions of the world, the physical maladies of our bodies, minds or spirits or even death itself take their toll on us, we are still part of a greater community---the communion of saints. Even if we don’t feel very “saintly” we remain forever a Resurrection People tethered to one another and truly eternally one in Christ. It is my joy that as I join you for the first time on Homecoming Sunday, October 4th, it is World Communion Sunday, a day that celebrates the unending Community of God’s people. I invite you to participate in your community and seek to come into a growing faith that is alive in the Spirit and ready to receive and share God’s love.
Simple, really.

In Christ,

Barry