A long time ago in a city far, far away…
I began college in a small school in west Texas. The semester I began, that small school, known since 1912 as “Abilene Christian College”, began using its new name – “Abilene Christian University”. The school had big dreams, and so did its first Freshman Class to begin as “University” students. Four years later, my graduating class numbered less than 500. Today, the city, the school, and the student population are all larger, but it’s still a small school. Has it achieved its dreams? Has that first Freshman Class to start as “University” students, achieved all, or any, of its dreams? Perhaps it is still too soon to fully know.
As you might expect in a small Christian school, it was not all that difficult to eventually recognize, by face if not by name, a large percentage of my classmates. Some became good friends. Others were more like passing acquaintances – you’d nod to each other or say “hi” as you passed in the hallways, or in the cafeteria [there was only one on campus], or at chapel, or on the grounds – but that was about as far as it went. We may or may not have known each other’s names, but we each recognized the other as being someone who “belonged”. We were schoolmates. We all knew the words to our football cheers [in fact, at my 40th Reunion a few years ago, we prevailed upon one of the former cheerleaders to give a rendition of one of the old cheers – she still knew it, and so did we!], we all [probably] knew the words to the Alma Mater, we all knew where things were, we were all a part of the history and traditions of the school. We all “belonged”.
Isn’t it great to “belong”?
What I did not fully grasp all those years ago on that small Christian University Campus was the true depth of that “belonging”. Because that “belonging”, whether that first Freshman Class of “University” students knew it or not, went, and still goes, far deeper than cheers and songs and knowing where the best places on campus were, or who the best professors were, and what was the best night to avoid eating at the cafeteria. That was all surface stuff. As classmates at a Christian school, what should have been most obvious to us was that not only were we connected by all that surface level stuff, but we were also connected by a common faith, a common hope, and a common love. And, because of that common faith, hope and love, we all “belonged” to each other. Here’s how The Apostle Paul put it: “Just as there are many parts to our bodies, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of it, and it takes every one of us to make it complete, for we each have a different work to do. So WE BELONG TO EACH OTHER [Emphasis, not shouting; well, maybe a little bit of excited shouting!], and each needs all the others.” – Romans 12:4-5.
It’s great to “belong” to something. But isn’t it so much greater to ”belong” to someone and, as Paul makes clear, to “belong” to MANY someones? I know that I didn’t fully grasp this truth in college. If I had, my time there might have been so much richer and so much more meaningful. Better friendships, deeper friendships, a better walk with Jesus, a better understanding of what fellowship is supposed to look like, a better understanding of serving, a better understanding of what it means to walk beside someone. I missed that opportunity. That saddens me.
But, to be honest, I’m not sure that I fully grasp now what all it really means for me, and for the Body of Christ, The Church, to “belong to each other”. Oh, I can very easily [and happily] point out behaviors I see in others that do not measure up to the standard of “belonging to each other”. I’ve got all of those answers. But usually [and thankfully], when I start in on this, I am quickly reminded that there’s a stick in my own eye which is blurring my vision.
The hard part for me is figuring out what it means in and for me to “belong to” each of the people who make up the Body of Christ. It’s hard enough for me to get this straight within the confines of my own little local expression of the Body of Christ. I’m sure I fail often and miserably at this. Then, when I start thinking of the parts of The Body that fall outside of my local church but still within my own “tribe” within The Body, I very quickly start judging and finding reasons why I don’t “belong” to them and they don’t “belong” to me. And then, it’s even easier for me to dismiss those from outside of my “tribe” as not “belonging”, right?
How quickly I forget the words of Paul. How quickly I forget the words of Jesus: “Anyone who is not against us is for us.” – Mark 9:40.
What I think is true is that, if all of us who are followers of Jesus would ever really fully grasp what it means to “belong to each other”, and then if all of us would start really living out what it means to “belong to each other”, we would begin to see The Lord moving in ways that would astound us!
Aren’t you ready for this? I know I am. And I am grateful for and humbled by the many of you who are already there, who are already living as though you “belong to each other”. Thank you for showing me the way. Please continue to be patient while I keep trying to catch up. And then we will all go together.
Ambrose Ramsey | Pastor and Shepherd
