From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:16)
Dear Jesus,
In you we are built, together in community, not solely as individuals. Our society has become so individualistic. We speak of "personal savior" and "our faith being a personal matter" and "our (translated 'my') relationship with Jesus", and certainly those comments are partially true. But the idea of the church being an organism of which we are inextricably a part is very foreign to our western mindset. It is very much an eastern mindset (which was your mindset and the mindset of the leaders in the early church). Because our individualistic perspective is so engrained in us, we will never quite internalize the community view, but I pray you help these children with this. Help them to understand that church is not an option, but it is central to a Christian life, that a Christian life as you intended it simply cannot be lived outside of church community. Even, as this scripture teaches, our spiritual maturity does not happen individualisticly, but in community. We mature and grow together, we are built up together. This makes sense when I consider the Great Command - maturity happens as we learn to love each other as you have loved us. And we cannot learn that unless we live in community with imperfect and broken people. Help these children to learn and embrace this principle.
Amen
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