Reflections
Typically an American today would say “I want to be spiritual but I don’t want to be religious” and what they mean by that is that “I want to have a personal experience of divine reality but I don’t want to have to deal with other people, I don’t want to have to join an institution, I don’t want to be part of a body.” And the God of the Bible says, “I don’t work like that, if you want something like that you are going to have to make up another God. The only way you can hold on to Me is if you hold on to brothers and sisters… people who you would not have chosen to be friends with in the first place. Because they are related to Me you have to be related to them and you must hold on to them and love them and know them.”
— Tim Keller
- Being part of a family and community
- could be afflicted, confronted, but also healed
- it’s hard work
- Church is a community of family, not a community of friends
- as a Christian, you are obligated to one another in a community
- decision you make is not just a personal decision, but a community one
- Living within the community helps us to understand the gospel
