shine YOUR light

Dr. Olsen brought up a good question in class yesterday that got me thinking… So I’m going to expound on it just a little bit, “At what point is the church responsible for others, or is it just responsible for itself and the consequences be what they may?” He also referenced 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
When we focus on the word “others” as a collective group, we are reducing the individuals to a sort of abstract idea. No, we cannot save the world. None of us are Superman, and besides- only God has that kind of power. However, if we step away from the idea of bringing revival to the nation and look at the smaller details, we will see the potential for the church to make a huge impact through something like the ripple effect. If each of us will get “humble ourselves and pray,” and as Wesley said in his sermon, “Renounce every way of acting, however gainful, which is contrary either to justice or mercy,” and instead “Love your neighbor as yourself,” then these small but powerful trademarks of Christianity will shine like a beacon in the darkness. If the church is living for itself and making itself into an empire of “Christianity” then we are missing the point. On the other hand, if we as Christ-followers will step up and live as our name signifies, each serving and loving the individual people around us, then it will be like a pebble dropped in the water… ripples drifting out further and further until the effects of the pebble are felt all the way to the outer fringes. In this way, people will see the body of Christ- each of us fulfilling our purpose to make Christ known- and the church as a whole will become a vessel of God’s glory and love poured out on a hurting and messed up society. In conclusion, each individual of the church is responsible for himself, and the church as a whole is responsible to live and serve as the body and bride of Christ. In this way, the church also assumes responsibility for others, but the “saving” is left to the One who does it best.
Wesley gave a comprehensive list of sufferings, and their causes. We could argue for days about how a just God could allow such suffering or whether He caused it, but in the end the unchangeable truth remains. No matter the cause… it’s all for one effect: God’s glory (which works to our ultimate good). Instead of pointing fingers, Wesley exhorts us, “If we have any tenderness of heart, any bowels of mercy, any sympathy with the afflicted, let us pursue this thought until we are deeply sensible of our sins, as one great cause of their sufferings.” And let us as the church not contribute any more to the weight of sin and suffering by our selfish actions.
P.S. Commented on Rachel’s “Star Spangled Banner”