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A Team Sport
Oct 7, 09:30 AM
“Each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:5
The American mindset is normally associated with individualism, entrepreneurism, and optimism. Unlike many non-Western cultures, Americans expect life to work for them and not against them. America has the unique ability and resources to engineer life to pretty much suit their needs. Our affluence affords us that unique luxury. Needless to say, this thinking bled over into the realm of religion as prosperity began to be associated with the blessing of God. The origins of this mindset go back to the time of the Pilgrims, who were primarily middle-European Calvinists. These celebrated pioneers were largely responsible for what has often been referred to as the Protestant work ethic. These hard working, austere people spent little on the pleasures of life; because of this, many of them began to amass significant wealth. Such prosperity began to be associated with the blessings of God. It did not take long to see the resultant separation of the “good” people who were hard working and blessed from the “bad” people who were regarded as slothful and sinful. Many mainline churches today are filled with people who harbor these same thoughts. Good people go to heaven and bad people don’t.
The conquering of the “Wild West” created in the American psyche the ideal of rugged individualism. The lone settler, facing the harsh American west against tremendous odds became the prototype of the ideal person. That image lingers today. William Dyrness, in his book, How America Hears the Gospel, writes, “John Locke was a Christian and probably did not intend for his ideas to have the consequence they had. . . that our right to property is principally prior to our membership in society.” Highly individualized ideas of consumption also began to emerge in America as our prosperity continued to grow. “If I can afford it, I can consume it.” There is little or no thought of belonging to a greater community, little or no thought to the consequences of individual actions on others. The evangelical church only compounded the problem by portraying faith as a personal, individual matter. One must establish a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” Certainly each one of us is responsible for working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Each one of us, as individuals will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of our lives. What has been sorely lacking in American Christianity has been the sense communality, or belonging to one another. For most American Christians, faith is a personal and private matter. They generally do not see how their privatized faith connects them to any other human being or obligates them to give their lives in service to others. At best, the only sense of communality in most American Christians is getting along with the people at church.
While on one of my trips to Tanzania, I got into a conversation with a man and I asked him if he had ever been to the United States. He responded that he had. I asked him how he liked it. “Not too much,” was his reply. I asked him why not. He told me that he saw us as slaves to the clock, compulsively so, but the greater problem was our sense of community, or lack thereof. “If I am in Tanzania and I want to go to someone’s home, I can just stop by unannounced and they will gladly receive me. In your country, it would be an imposition to stop by. You would have to make an appointment first.” When it comes to belonging to a church, most Americans see themselves as belonging to and supporting the organization; they generally do not see their identity as intrinsically tied to the organism which is the Body of Christ. The evangelical church, which rightly sought to initiate people into a personal relationship with Christ, has not immediately followed that up with the admonition that now that you have the personal relationship, you are in-grafted into the Body. Your identity proceeds from being an integral and functioning part of the greater community. You are in relationship with every other believer all over the world. When martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech in August, 1963, he referred to the white people present at the rally and said, “They know that their freedom is tied to ours.”
When one is a member of the Body of Christ, one belongs to all the other members. Your freedom is tied to the freedom of your brother. Your healing is tied to the healing of your sister. Your wholeness is tied to the health of the whole body. It is not right for the individual until it is right for all. Christian faith is not an individual and personal matter but is communal in its very essence. God is forming a righteous nation, not a collection of individuals. While each individual is precious and unique, there are experiences of God that are only available in the midst of the faith community. Christianity is a team sport.