Life of the ecclesial community

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“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.”

Acts of the Apostles 2

The church is the bedrock of faith. It expresses the prayer of Christ “that we be one” as Christ and God the Father and the Holy Spirit are one. To be Christian is to commit to being together, growing together, desiring to every more deeply see Christ in one another. The church is the place to take time out of the ‘world’ – it is a sabbath.

Entering into its life brings forth the knowledge and experience that who we are is not just our jobs, or our relationships, or our background and history. For we are loved and held in the infinite grace of God, who desires for us to know and love Christ more, and for us to invest time in relationship with one another. 

Christ is the “head of the church”, its centre, we see Christ in one another. Being baptised into the church exemplifies that we are each in need, we each need God and one another to be whole, to be true persons not individuals. To offer worship together is to make eucharist, thanksgiving, for all that we have received, and to find joy in seeing one other worshipping and experiencing God.

The life of the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles. Men and women who were all different, yet each called by Christ. We are called to imitate Christ as they did. Christ’s words to the disciples in the upper room were “do not to be afraid” so we need not fear. We need not hide behind language, or structures, we desire to enter into the radical call of what it means to follow Christ, to be a Christian. It is not a label or brand.

To be Christian is to be porous, to show the divine life within us, to show forth the radical inclusiveness of Christ, to challenge and evolve people’s perceptions, actions and experiences.