Wednesday, July 02, 2014

The Enlightened Fellowship

”…God is light and in him there is no darkness at all…if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5, 7)

A mother calling to her son shouted, "Johnny, tell your sister to get in the house out of the rain." "I can't mom," came the reply. "And just why can't you?" demanded his mother. "Because we are playing Noah's Ark mom, and she's one of the sinners."(1)

Church folk often like to make the distinction between the sinners on the outside and the saints on the inside. But this covers up the reality that the saints inside are still sinners. Sinners saved by grace, yet still sinners.

What Jesus’ disciples ultimately recognized in themselves was their sinfulness. Whenever they were tempted to conclude that they had it all together, they remembered their shortcomings. They didn’t drag them around like a huge anchor—weighed down with guilt and misery. But it became a reality check for them whenever conflict and sin arose among them.

If we truly understand ourselves and our fellowship, we need to come to grips with this reality. You and I, as sincerely as we want to live a good life, fall short of doing so. God has a way for us to live, the writer of 1 John calls it “walking in the light,” and we humans have a distinct tendency to stray from it.

The living presence of Christ enlightens our fellowship. His love makes our loving possible. His grace enables us to live in grace with one another. Knowing of God’s grace enables us to live with an enlightened understanding of who we are. We are sinners, saved by grace. We can be honest about this!

Recognizing our shared sinfulness and also our sharing of God’s grace makes our fellowship truly enlightened. Seeing each other for who we are, frees us up to practice love and grace with one another. We acknowledge our shortcomings with one another and find the merciful love of Christ emanating from our brothers and sisters in Christ. We embody the light of Christ’s love and grace in our own lives.

A little boy attended Church with his Grandfather one Sunday. Grandpa's church had beautiful stained-glass windows. Grandpa told his grandson that the windows contained pictures of Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke, Saint John, Saint Paul, and whole lot of other saints.

When he got home, the boy told Mom and Dad all about it. Dad, wanting to be funny and curious about what his son had learned, asked, "What is a saint?" The boy thought for a minute and then replied, "A saint is a somebody the light shines through." (2)

May the light of Christ’s love and grace enlighten our fellowship and shine through to the world.

(1) Changing Your Mind, Glenn Pease
(2) RSVP: Stewardship through Service, Billy D. Strayhorn, ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc.