For the past several months, the Elders have been working through the membership roster of St. John’s as part of an effort to identify those who may need to be contacted and reconnected, as well as those who have moved away or otherwise become disconnected from this congregation, such that a recommendation to the congregation regarding their membership may be appropriate.
In the course of this work, the Elders have asked questions such as: Do they still belong to our congregation? Have they become active members of another church? Have they simply disappeared? Are they lost, disconnected, or no longer attending or belonging to any Christian congregation?
These conversations have prompted reflection on a passage from By Water and the Word by Rev. Brian W. Thomas, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church. In this section of his book on Holy Baptism, Rev. Thomas helps us consider a deeper question: What is it that first established our belonging, and what continues to sustain it long after our Baptism?
He writes:
First, you don’t go to church; you are the church. Baptism shows that the church is not a place you attend but a people you belong to. This means we can’t ghost the church when she’s a pain in the backside. Because she’s not a building. She’s a body. And you are part of her.
When you were baptized, you weren’t enrolled in a voluntary religious club. This means your faith is not private; it is shared among the other branches grafted in the Vine that is Christ himself. It must be nurtured, cultivated, and practiced in community.
Second, baptism joins you to real people, not ideal people. Sinner-saints. This body is full of difficult personalities and different perspectives-including yours. But that’s exactly where the gospel gets real. We learn to love as Christ loved us.
Third, it means you don’t just believe individually; you believe communally. The faith you confess is the “faith of the church,” the credo of the baptized. And that creed is not recited alone. You’re part of a choir, not a solo act.
Fourth, it means when your baptized brother sins, you forgive him. When your sister falls. you help her up. Because baptism has made us family, and families stick together. The baptismal water is thicker than biological blood, because it unites us to Christ’s precious blood.
Like any family, we fight, we fail, and sometimes we annoy the living daylights out of each other. But we’re still family, and your baptism says, “You belong here.” Even if you’re socially awkward. Even if you vote wrong. Even if you smell like the cigarette you just smoked in the church parking lot – yeah, the one you hoped nobody would notice.
Fifth, you can’t grow apart from the body. “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you” (I Cor 12:21). The New Testament never envisions a Christian life outside the church. This is a team sport. Worship, prayer, fellowship – all of it is mediated through the body. If you are cut off from the body, you will shrivel spiritually. But when connected, we flourish together.
Sixth, you can never say, “I don’t belong.” Maybe you feel unworthy of belonging at times. Maybe you’ve been burned by the church or one of her pastors. Been there; done that. Still living with a little PTCD (post-traumatic church disorder).
Maybe you’re tempted to leave quietly out the back door when no one is looking. Remember: your baptism came with a promise. It’s where God says, ‘I made you mine. Now go sit with the other forgiven screw-ups, listen, confess, pray, praise, and eat and drink with them until I come back.’ That can’t be un-done. You belong. Always.
The church, for all her faults, is the bride of Christ – watermarked by grace, beautified by her groom, and marching toward the day when every last tear is dried and the green bean casserole will give way to the best grilled ribeye and vintage of wine that heaven can offer as God always saves the best for last.