Speaking to the soul

Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.
Ephesians 5:18-19 NLT

I am aware when broadcasting and writing that my words are heard or read by people who I don’t know and will never meet. I’m equally conscious that each person is pursuing their life as best they can, facing issues I will never know. So, I experience a weight of responsibility both to God and my audience. It is a privilege to communicate. I’ve discovered the tremendous value there is in engaging with other Christians. The privilege of community, something I need and cherish.

We are not created to be solitary creatures, yet so much of life today isolates us from one another. The demands of time squeeze our social connections, while we deceive ourselves that somehow our online presence offers us the benefits of community in a more convenient form. The fact is that I need physicality to my relationships. I find it all too easy to present an inauthentic profile online. It is only in direct conversation with someone that I, and they, connect with our real emotions, the people that lie beyond their opinions. Online I’m known for what I think; among my friends I’m known for who I am.

When we come together as church, it is for mutual understanding and encouragement. It is the safe space in which we can show up as we are, knowing we are accepted as such by God first and by brothers and sisters second. There is no need for pretence. Sunday best, as once worn in church, is anathema to the very foundation and purpose for church. When church is reduced to an individual experience, be it in worship or word, the heart of God’s purpose is stolen from our gathering together. Church is a communal experience, where I am conscious of participation in one local expression of a global family. I am encouraged to be part of something tangibly so much bigger than myself.

QUESTION

Are you part of a church which offers the opportunity to be known and accepted for who you are?

PRAYER

Thank you for the communities where I can know and be known.