The Importance of Community

Now before all you Messiah College people wander off in a daze because you've heard this buzzword so many times, finish reading this post first. It's legit--or so I hope.

As with many things in my life, I've gone through a number of stages and my perspectives on worship are no different. From a very early age, I knew I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. I was about as good at singing as the Cubs are at winning a World Series--I can't imagine it happening in my lifetime. This led me thinking that worship was nice, but it wasn't necessary for me. I had a personal relationship and I didn't need to embarrass myself in front of a lot of people. Singing just wasn't my gift. God would understand.

Eventually, I realized that communal worship was important and healthy for my spiritual life. It was a continual reminder that I was not perfect. It's hard to be prideful when you sound like a cat is being strangled. However, I came to the realization that I was singing in order to worship God. I was singing for an audience of one basically. It didn't matter what I sounded like, as long as my heart was in it. Therefore, communal worship was important.

However, that reasoning was still terribly self-focused. I didn't realize this till today during my reading time. I was reading through a commentary by Ryken about Exodus 12 when he came to verse 47:

All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

This makes sense to me. All of Israel was saved so all of Israel needs celebrate Passover. However, Ryken made a connection I didn't.

We talk a lot about having a personal relationship with God, and rightly so. We need to have a personal relationship with Christ. We need to fully depend on his righteousness and his sacrifice for our sins in order to truly have life. However, his sacrifice wasn't just for me. It was for the entire world. When we celebrate communion, Christ's redirecting of the Passover meal, we are partaking of Christ's body and blood. The key word is we. Everyone who participates is claiming to be a part of the same body.

Indeed, in 1 Corinthians, we are told to be of one body and one mind. In Acts 4, we see the early church was of one mind and body. This does not mean they were clones of each other. Instead, they were united in Christ's body. This verse in 1 Corinthians 10 explains it well:

16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Ryken points out how many times the Bible refers to salvation as a community experience because we are now united in Christ. He writes "when the New Testament explains the great doctrines of salvation, it almost always speaks in the plural. To give one example, consider Paul's words to Titus: '4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.' Regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification--together we share every aspect of salvation" (359). We share this things because we share a Savior.

When the Israelites were given directions for celebrating the Passover meal, they were to celebrate it together, not individually. It is together when our faith stories and testimonies as to God's power in our own lives in delivering us from sin can be shared.

Clearly, communal worship is a vital part of our salvation here and now. I always knew it was important and that's why I began to sing. However, I never understood why to the depths that I do now. Salvation was never meant to simply be a relationship between God and us. It starts there, but if we are truly changed, we will naturally be in community with others. In those times, we will encourage and be encouraged. This is why it is crucial to arrive in time for corporate worship during our church service. A sermon can be discussed but only after the fact and is mainly individual. But worship needs to be seen as just as important because that's when God can use the whole body to lift each other up, as was his plan.