Privatized faith is dangerous. Many people would argue the problems facing the church today are consequences of a between-me-and-Jesus faith.
No one has ever denied the personal aspects of trust and faith in Jesus. You pray with your family. I pray with mine. You pray by yourself and so does everyone else. There are moments we all pray under our breath as we go through our daily tasks. I teach people to pray for the person that randomly comes to mind.
Of course, praying is one example of something we can do by ourselves. You can think of other forms of piety that you do alone as well. But every personal act of devotion is part of the larger connection we have with God’s people. In scripture, the underlying expectation is that our faith is shared. Now, I don’t mean the evangelical sense of spreading the good news across the globe. What we’re talking about is our communal life of faith.
Worship, confession, giving, even reading the Bible are all done together. That’s not even a hopeful desire of biblical authors. It’s the basic assumption of how things are to be. That runs counter to how many of us see devotion to God, but our faith needs to reinforce that idea. And we need to couple it with the notion that who you are matters to the rest of us.
Several years ago, The United Methodist Church updated its membership vows. Before, new members vowed to support the church through their prayers, presence, gifts and service. The change was an addition. Added to the list was their witness. That is to say, praying for your church, being present with your church, financially supporting and working with your church are important. But who you are at the grocery store matters to who we are as a church, too. How you treat your waiters has bearing on our church’s witness. I hoped the change would bridge the gap between our understandings of private and communal faith.
If it has, we still have much work to do to strengthen the concept.
We can’t be the body of Christ if we aren’t united in faith. Not just in what we say we believe. But in how we live and share our faith among one another.
Stay blessed…john
