Of late, I have been reading two phenomenal books by Lauren Winner, a young woman who converted from Judaism to Christianity when she was in graduate school. And she has a very solid and refreshing perspective on life in general, especially on a few key issues the church nowadays tends to gloss over. One of the things she stresses over and over again is that, as human beings, nothing is ever truly individual - as much as sometimes we'd like to think we stand alone, eventually everything we say and do and even think will affect other people and God, and everything about us is inevitably shaped by people and culture and places and the whole of human history and ultimately God. In short, nothing can truly be individual because we were, in fact, made to be part of community, of relationship, in short, of a Body. And one thing she said that has stuck with me is that even something like faith, which we in this day & age consider to be very personal, is not actually individual but corporate. Faith, hope, love, and understanding all take much more than just me, myself, and God sitting down with a Bible and thinking it through, and trying to figure out what's important and what being a disciple of Christ should look like and feel like. I am part of a Body, and I can only hope to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ when I do it together with all the saints! It would take the whole of Scripture, the whole of human history, the whole of church tradition, and the whole body of Christ in all time & space to even come close! And that is immensely refreshing to me. It helps to know sometimes that I'm not a lone ranger forging my way to the heart of God and trying to rescue people along the way, but instead that I'm surrounded by a caravan of people who are also sharing the same journey, and that most importantly of all, God Himself goes with us.

So I went through, in my mind, all the books I've read about the taking hold of and working out of salvation, and all the conversations I've had with peers and friends and professors and my parents and my pastors, and the reflections I've written as I've grown to a deeper knowledge and love of the Triune God, and all the saints who have gone before us. And it's a lot of people! People with whom I can stand and say: "We believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen." People with whom I can share the bringing of that faith to action, by together joining the work that God is already doing to bring healing to the broken, freedom to the captive, food to the hungry, and love to the rejected. People who will someday all lift our voices at the foot of the throne of God and of the Lamb and cry, "Blessing and honor and glory and power be to our God forever and ever!"

This is why we take communion and in doing so remind each other that we are made whole by His broken body, and His spilled blood. This is why we pray. This is why baptism is a sacrament, in which we announce to the whole world that we die to ourselves and are raised to new life in Christ, and in which all the other members of the Body pledge to hold us accountable and help us grow. This is why marriage is a sacrament and is a profound mystery, because it is an intentional parallel to the working out of the relationship between Christ and the church. This is why I cannot imagine following the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit alone, because it would be way too monstrous a task. This is why I love being part of a Body that is even now being built up into the fullness of God.