Self-amputation from the Body of Christ

1-19-2007

Last week, I officiated at a funeral for a man who was married here at Emmanuel 8 years ago, but who had not been attending Emmanuel for at least 5 years. He and his wife had (and have) a deep faith which was very important to them, and yet they were not a part of a Christian community. When I spoke with the man’s widow about her husband’s funeral, she sounded like she was in an emotional free fall, having little family support of her faith (even outright ridicule), and not knowing what to do to have a funeral for her husband.
The realization occurred to me that this couple had separated themselves from the Body of Christ and had suffered greatly because of it. She did not have support from a love community of Christians who shared her faith and supported her in it. For years, she had not had the benefits of being a part of a community of believers like her. I felt very sad for her and have begun and will continue to follow up with her. She is moving soon, but I pray and will encourage her to become an active part of a Christian community wherever she ends up going.
Remaining a part of a Christian community (a healthy one, at that) is vital to our lives. When we remove ourselves from a Christian community, from the Body of Christ, part of us dies, just as surely as a finger will die if it is removed from a person’s body. Sometimes it seems we do not die when we remove ourselves from the Body of Christ, but at the least, we remain frozen, waiting to be re-attached. We need one another. Our spirits, our souls, our lives need to be a part of a community of faith, an active part of the Body of Christ to share with others who believe as we do the joys and the pains of life, and to be sent in mission to the world, to share with others the joys and pains of the Gospel and to share our ultimate joy, unity with God through Jesus Christ.

A long period of doubt, supported by others' faith

I have recently come out of a long period of deep doubt. Over the summer months and through September, I had been doubting everything about my faith, even the existence or goodness of God. There was nothing catastrophic that caused this season of doubt, I simply began questioning. Accepting the Christian faith seemed foolish, and no matter how close I was able to come to faith via reason, the leap of faith, the decision to believe, seemed far too wide. I was simply unable to make the leap of faith in believing in God or Jesus Christ.
I struggled with this, still praying to God and reading the Bible, all the while wondering if God even existed when I suddenly had a desire to watch the DVDs of one of my favorite TV shows, Firefly. During one of the episodes, one of the characters says, “You don’t fix faith. It fixes you.” This was a starting point in helping me feel comfortable with faith again, and I began the journey back to having faith.
Through this journey, I found my faith had changed in a wonderful way. As I was leading worship one Sunday morning several weeks ago, I began leading the congregation in the Nicene Creed (the Church’s basic statement of our faith) and thinking to myself, “I’m not sure I believe all of this.”
Then I realized I didn’t have to believe every word of the Creed, because the rest of the church was there to believe it for me. The Church’s faith in Jesus is the faith of the whole Church, not just of any one individual. Individuals within the Church will always have doubts, always wonder if they believe everything in the Christian faith, but the Church still has faith and supports those who doubt by keeping that faith.
So, if you have doubts, if you question or wonder about the faith, you’re in good company. As Christians, we needn’t each believe every aspect of the Christian faith at all times in order to remain as Christians. We have each other to believe for us when we are unable to believe. We can depend on each other to continue to have faith when any one of us is in doubt. Others will believe when you or I can’t, as will we at some point believe when others have doubt.