January 16, 2010

The Church As One Orchestra

I remembered something very important today.

I remembered that we, God's penultimate creations, are designed for each other. We are made for interaction, for communication, for caring. We are created to be in fellowship. One person alone cannot make it through life without feeling some sense of extreme loss and discontentment (I know, I've tried). God alone can fill the "hole" in our hearts, but we are still, on some level, incomplete if we do not pay any attention to the relationships around us. Look at Paul, for instance. He could have very well decided to hole himself up socially and praise God alone for the rest of his days. But he didn't. He ministered, he witnessed, he admonished and instructed. He interacted with those who stood by his side in fellow communion with the Lord. I believe we can learn from that.

This may sound like some cheesy "no man is an island" cliche. But it's not. This is something big, something serious. God has purposely designed us to act in fellowship. To form relationships, and glorify Him through those relationships. We are called to support our Christian family, to teach and learn from each other in God's sight. There is nothing but vanity in the resistance of that concrete fact of our existence. We are intended to be one with God, but also to be one with each other. We are members of the same body, the same Church, the same Christ. The hands must interact in response to the eyes, the legs must move according to the feet, and we must incorporate each other and our relationships into our praise.

We are intended as instruments for His glory. And you can sound good playing a violin by yourself on the streets, but it's just never going to match up with a full orchestra.

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