July 26 - The Community is God's Temple

July 26 - The Community is God's Temple
Ephesians 2:21

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, which Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 3:19-22)

I had originally titled this post “The Church is God’s Temple,” but as I read through the passage once more, it occurred to me that Paul isn’t simply talking about the organized structure of the local church, but the entirety of the community of faith.

Read through those verses one more time.  There is probably one thing I write about and think about more than anything else (other than our relationship with God) and that is our relationships with each other.  As I thought about the fact that we are no longer foreigners and aliens, I recognized that by becoming Christians, we have been called to set aside our differences.

The problem is, that many pick and choose what they define as ‘Christian’ and so rather than setting aside the differences, they polarize the issues and separate themselves from each other moreso than ever before.

I’ve spent time with Christians who believe that Catholics are heretics and thus, aren’t qualified to be members of God’s community.  On the same level, there are plenty of Catholics who believe that everyone else is a heretic.  We judge people based on their beliefs about issues – abortion and homosexuality – so, we feel free to dismiss these people and no longer feel that we need to be in relationship with them.  We might choose to believe that someone with a Muslim sounding name is not a Christian.  We see a woman who has children by several different husband and can’t imagine that she will ever turn her life around … she won’t be part of this great community.

For the temple of God to be built in its fullness, for us to bring the whole building together in Christ, we need to recognize that we are all fellow citizens in God’s community and members of God’s household.  You and I are not given the power or responsibility to choose for others whether they are children of God.  Our only responsibility is to become what it is God asks us to be in the community and to recognize that we are part of … a community that must ignore distinctions which make us foreigners and aliens to each other.