Over the month of May I had the honor of officiating 3 weddings and a funeral…isn’t that a movie title or something? It was such a privilege to be allowed in on all of those really sacred moments and a reminder of what it means to be a community of people’s pastor. What really struck me though is that in both of those settings–the highest of highs and the lowest of lows–what matters the most is…well, each other. Wether it is watching people laugh, dance, and catch up at a wedding reception or standing with a family as people say their final goodbyes to their 10 year old son–what becomes so clear in both of these moments is how powerful and how important our connection with one another truly is.
I think you would all agree with me that what matters the most to us in life isn’t what we have, but it’s who we have—it isn’t our stuff or our accomplishments, it’s our connection—our relationships with one another. Our favorite moments in life—our favorite memories-are often connected to our favorite people and at the same time our most painful moments in life almost always have something to do with a relational break. All of this is a reflection of how we are wired—we have been created in the image of a God who is a Trinity—God isn’t just in a relationship—God is relationship and we have been made in the image of this relational God, which makes you and I relational creatures—our life together—isn’t just something that we do, but it is a vital part of who we are.
In John 17—Jesus is spending some of his final moments just before his arrest and crucifixion—in prayer. After praying for himself and his disciples, Jesus then finishes by praying for us—for you and for me—not that’s something to think about. And what does Jesus pray for? For all of our problems to go away? To keep us from trouble? No, Jesus prays that we would be one. In fact in verse 23 Jesus prays specifically that we would be brought to complete unity.
When we hear the word unity we tend to think of a sort of intellectual agreement, right? In our minds unity is about everyone being on the same page in terms of beliefs and values. Unity is something that in our world you can have from a distance because it usually has everything to do with what is up here. This isn’t what Jesus is talking about when he uses the word, “unity.” The word that Jesus uses in the Greek is a form of the word agape. Agape, of course means “love,” but not just any kind of love—agape is the deepest kind of love. This kind of unity that Jesus is talking about here requires intimacy—it isn’t something that can happen from a distance because it goes beyond just a simple intellectual agreement—this kind of unity is about shared experience, it is something that requires us to get up close and personal—it’s about doing life together.
What’s really incredible is that Jesus goes on to say that as a result of our unity the world will know that he is from God—that he is who he says he is. As Jesus looks ahead the one thing that he knows is going to prove to the world that this Kingdom of God movement isn’t just another flash in the pan but that it is straight from heaven itself is the unity of his followers. It isn’t our beliefs, our convictions, our higher form of morality, or our political views—it isn’t our bumper stickers, our t-shirts, our worship music, or our rock star preachers—what is going to convince the watching world that this Jesus movement is for real is our love for one another and our shared life together.
You see Jesus knew that his followers were going to face challenges that were going to be too big for them to handle on their own. Jesus knew that they would need to make some serious changes in their lives that they couldn’t make on their own and Jesus knew that this followers would be able to do and be more together than they could ever do or be on their own. And so when Jesus prays on behalf of all of his followers—including you and me—Jesus prays for one thing—unity—the same love—a shared life.
Here’s what this mean. Christ-centered intentional community—what we call Life Groups at Ginghamsburg Church—isn’t optional—it is foundational to what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and it is the most powerful and compelling way in which we demonstrate the revolutionary love of the gospel to the world that we live in. In our day and age people are desperate for authenticity, for something real, something that isn’t a gimmick. Everything seems so superficial and plastic. Imagine how appealing a community of people would be that was committed to being real and genuine, that practiced compassion, and forgiveness, that didn’t quit when things got difficult, and who opened up their homes up to one another and made an effort to meet one another’s needs?
So maybe you’re sitting out there and this is something that you want—you are ready. I want to personally invite you out to the next round of Group Life starting Thursday June 19th. Group Life is a 4-week experience, led by yours truly that will put you in the same place at the same time with other people who are looking for people to connect with. We will spend four weeks getting to know one another and discussing the essential elements of Christ-centered community and then after that four weeks you will group up with people from the class and spend the next 4 weeks putting what we learned into practice. If you have any questions you email me a ncunningham@ginghamsburg.org. I hope to see you there!
Discovering the Obvious 