WHERE WE BELONG (22 OF 49)
Scripture: John 17:6-19
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Where We Belong (22 of 49)
Lectionary, Year B, Easter 07
Christopher B. Harbin
John 17:6-19
We yearn to belong. We just don't know where we belong. We struggle to define to whom we belong. We wrestle with offering belonging, even as we try to discern where we fit into the world around us. We are not alone. Society around us grapples with the same sense of belonging, identification, and association with others. So often, we feel cut off from the world around us. We seek after connection in so many ways. Meanwhile, God calls us all to belong together, united as one people. How then, do we consider belonging together in Christ insufficient, when in Christ God would bind us all together?
I had some pushback this week from a ministry colleague questioning how I could possibly be in fellowship and cooperation with people who hold ideas in conflict with mine. As far as they were concerned, if we do not agree on some particular issue, we cannot be church together. It must either be my way or your way; their way or the highway. I have to challenge that kind of thinking. Sure, I struggle with embracing some who disagree with me, especially those who are disagreeable about it. On the other hand, Jesus did not call disciples based on their agreement with him. Even the very night he was betrayed, he alerted Peter that they were at odds with one another. He still laid claim to Peter's life as valuable, as a faithful disciple Jesus was not willing to abandon even while Peter was about to deny him. They were at odds again in the garden as Peter pulled out a sword and Jesus chastised him.
The words we read in today's passage of John anticipate these very interactions between Jesus and Peter. Peter sticks his foot in his mouth, and Jesus corrects him. Peter pulls out a sword, and Jesus patches us the servant's ear. Peter, the spokesperson and head of the group of disciples, leader within the inner circle of Jesus' 12 was seemingly ever at odds with Jesus on one thing o ...
Lectionary, Year B, Easter 07
Christopher B. Harbin
John 17:6-19
We yearn to belong. We just don't know where we belong. We struggle to define to whom we belong. We wrestle with offering belonging, even as we try to discern where we fit into the world around us. We are not alone. Society around us grapples with the same sense of belonging, identification, and association with others. So often, we feel cut off from the world around us. We seek after connection in so many ways. Meanwhile, God calls us all to belong together, united as one people. How then, do we consider belonging together in Christ insufficient, when in Christ God would bind us all together?
I had some pushback this week from a ministry colleague questioning how I could possibly be in fellowship and cooperation with people who hold ideas in conflict with mine. As far as they were concerned, if we do not agree on some particular issue, we cannot be church together. It must either be my way or your way; their way or the highway. I have to challenge that kind of thinking. Sure, I struggle with embracing some who disagree with me, especially those who are disagreeable about it. On the other hand, Jesus did not call disciples based on their agreement with him. Even the very night he was betrayed, he alerted Peter that they were at odds with one another. He still laid claim to Peter's life as valuable, as a faithful disciple Jesus was not willing to abandon even while Peter was about to deny him. They were at odds again in the garden as Peter pulled out a sword and Jesus chastised him.
The words we read in today's passage of John anticipate these very interactions between Jesus and Peter. Peter sticks his foot in his mouth, and Jesus corrects him. Peter pulls out a sword, and Jesus patches us the servant's ear. Peter, the spokesperson and head of the group of disciples, leader within the inner circle of Jesus' 12 was seemingly ever at odds with Jesus on one thing o ...
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