Welcome to #ATLT, At the Lord’s Table: A Conversation, a series of over 50 posts from varying authors about the beautiful, mangled Church. Look for at least two new posts every Monday through Saturday between January 25th and February 22nd. Join us in the conversation? See you in the comments.
The television show Friends remains one of the most watched shows ever on television. Running for 238 episodes over 10 full seasons the show is one of the few over recent history to have such longevity. I’ve often wondered what sets apart certain television shows from the other. What madeFriends such a raving success compared to other shows of its time?
In Friends we see a community of otherwise unlike people (though not really diverse either, I admit) come together in order to share life with each other. Outside of the show being fairly funny (admit it, Joey and Chandler made you laugh), I believe its success comes from an interior desire of all of us to be able to share life in a similar, intimate way. I’d argue that on the deepest of levels we were made for life in this way. Lost in the recent debate of relationship vs. religion is that truth that relationship with God thrusts us into religious community for the sake of our faith journey.
It’s common today for people to say they are “spiritual but not religious.” Being religious has a stigma that goes with it today. Much of this is due to the crimes of religion in the past. Christians often have a relationship with Christ but do not practice religion, or so they say. Let’s consider for a moment how a relationship with God IS a religious practice due to the communal nature of the relationship.
Our Triune God defines Himself through the relationships between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Godhead. The three persons are the being of God, and therefore, as the Body of Christ, we should be defining ourselves through our relationships with God and each other. The church is called to echo or reflect the relational reality found in the life of our Trinitarian God (credit to John Zizioulas). Just as God finds His identity in relationship between the Father, Son, and Spirit, through our relationship with God we are enabled to reflect this relational identity of being in our world. We show our God for who He truly is by serving and loving each other and the people around us, just as God loves and serves within His being.
By valuing anything before the communal aspect of church, we have severely misunderstood the nature and character of God. If our God does exist as one God, in three beings, it must also have implications for us as people seeking to make God real in our lives and in the lives of others.
Church membership, attendance, and activity is much more than simply a religious practice as often think of it. The community of a locally gathered body is the very being of God. The community of God’s gathered people is an instrument of His presence infiltrating our lives with skin and bones.
In the almost universally accepted (among Evangelical Christians) Westminster Shorter Catechism, the question of, “What is the chief end of man?” is answered by saying: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” And while I have no intention of disagreeing with the statement I would imagine that I, along with many others, read this and wonder…
How do we do that?
In light of this discussion on the Trinity and the importance of community in formation of right relationship with God, it would stand that we bring glory to God by forming our lives around relationships of love. This is what God has done within Himself. The Trinity directly contradicts the self-focused nature found in our world today that seeks the best for ourselves before others.
Between the Father, Son, and Spirit we are provided the example of how to bring glory to God:Seek out others through love in order for Trinitarian community to be a reality in not only God’s being but our lives as well. We were created to be servants who give relational love to our world not masters who selfishly take away from it.
Right relationship with God will always result in us pursuing right relationships with others.
The relationship with God and the “religious” community go hand in hand to develop us into followers of Christ we seek after Him in all areas of our lives.
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read the post before this one, here.
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Tyler Braun
Tyler Braun is a 27-year-old INTJ living in Portland, Oregon with his wife Rose. He works full time as a worship leader, while also finding time to study at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in pursuit of a masters degree. Currently Tyler is living the Portlandia dream of commuting to work on a bike while paying off school loans. He has plans to release his first book in August of this year through Moody Publishers. You can find Tyler on Twitter, Facebook, or his blog.
© 2012, Preston. All rights reserved.
