Fight for connection

We have had two “in person” meetings at my church, after having spent over a year with no meetings or online meetings.  It is something I have so looked forward to.  I believe that one of the things that God has been doing through this enforced separation is growing in us a longing for community.  Certainly, I really do long to be able to have people in my home again and to eat together around the table.  The table is such a place of community.  Lingering over the meal table, chatting, relaxed, sharing stories and news, just connecting.  Oh, how I have missed that.  It is obviously a place of connection for Jesus too.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.  (Revelation 3:20)

However, I was aware of different emotions this week. Our meetings are on a weeknight and, after a busy day at work, I found myself thinking that if I had not signed up, I might have just gone home rather than to church on the way. I found myself thinking that I could just watch online and at least at home I could sing, and it was less effort.  The thoughts took me by surprise.  I wonder (not really) where those little thoughts came from; who really would like me not to bother engaging with the corporate setting right now? 

Some of it is that this is a new church family for me.  It feels unfamiliar.  For many of us, going out and mixing with people feels unfamiliar right now.  The masks and the limitations feel like just another hurdle to overcome in Satan’s war on connection.  Everything about the COVID pandemic and the language surrounding it has spoken of disconnection, separation, and isolation.  “Stay home, keep your distance, wear a mask.” 

We need to be alert to the enemy’s plan for disconnection and fight to stay connected, and then fight to deepen and grow those connections.  (In case you think it is, this is not me advocating anarchy or rebellion in any sense.  We do not fight flesh and blood)

This week, I have been pondering the term “communion of saints”.  It is a phrase from the Apostle’s Creed used in the Church of England liturgy, which surfaced from a buried memory somewhere.  

We are familiar with the word “communion” in the context of taking bread and wine.  This is deep and rich, and I think we have only skimmed the surface of it.  For me communion has come to mean so much more than remembering what Jesus did, acknowledging it and thanking him for it, and is definitely much more than a ritual.  I am struck by the thought that the first “communion service” took place as part of a meal.  A place of communion round the table, joining with other hearts.

Communion has become a weapon in my arsenal for spiritual warfare, a declaration of the truths surrounding Jesus’ birth and resurrection, a way of reminding Satan he is a defeated enemy.  It is powerful in prayer for healing.  It is powerful as a way of connecting with God and bringing myself back to that place of awareness of my union with him and the covenant between us.  “Com” meaning with and “union” meaning oneness, joined. 

But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17)

Of course, I am reminded that Jesus’ death and resurrection is a place of salvation, of wholeness, of healing – body, soul, and spirit, of deliverance, of freedom.  What a joyous place!  As we take communion, all of those things are available.  I have many times taken communion as part of my devotional time but as I pondered this term “communion of saints”, I was reminded that it is in the corporate context that it is best.  The communion of saints is the joining of the believers as one.

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity.  (John 17:20-23)

As we take communion, we partake of Jesus.  He is in us and we are in him.  As we partake of communion, we share in Jesus, in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, in his suffering, in his joy, in his peace, everything.  We get to share in everything.  It is also a reminder that we are part of a much wider family. 

As I looked at the roots of the word communion, one source suggested that the roots came from a word mean to strengthen or fortify.  Certainly, it has been my experience that both the sacrament of communion and the joining of believers strengthens us.  Isolated believers become easier prey for the enemy.  We are designed to function in team.  Actually, I love working in team, we all bring a different aspect and however we are ministering, we sharpen each other and add to the whole.  How can we fully represent God, who is three in one if we are an isolated Christian?  We need each other.  

We don’t just need our local connections.  The global connection is key.  The whole body is needed to manifest the fullness of God in the earth.  We are all his body, and we need all the different parts.  I have become more aware of this recently as one of the groups I connect with, now we are online, has become much more international with people connecting from literally across the globe each time.  I have learned from and been challenged by my global family.

The hunger of people who are willing to stay up till 4am to connect with us challenges this week’s thoughts about meeting with others.  I spent some time recently watching YouTube videos of Christians in areas where they are persecuted for their faith.  Chinese Christians who get up at 4am every day to spend hours in prayer before work, hidden in secret locations.  Those same Christians who were so hungry for the word of God they wanted to be taught from 8.30am to 7pm without pause for several days in a row when they had the opportunity to hear from a preacher with a bible.  I sat this morning, surrounded by various books, several versions of the bible, not to mention the resources on my phone and was reminded of the abundance I have.  How rich they are in comparison, in the depth of their connection with God.  I thought of the beatitudes.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  (Matthew 5:6)

This Chinese Christians certainly personify hunger and push past much bigger hurdles than I do, including the possibility of death.  According to this, they are the ones who are blessed.  (My idea of what being blessed looks like might need to change!)

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10)

For those of us who have got used to a different way of life, to the comfort of meeting online, or who have not really bothered, or who have “grazed YouTube” services and have sated ourselves in ways other than communion with God and each other, we are going to have to make a bit more effort to come out of our caves and reconnect because there is an enemy actively working to keep us disconnected, and it’s not the government! 

The communion of saints is the body of believers across the globe, not just the ones that are in my nation, or that look like me.  We are being invited into a higher level of oneness, of love, of care for each other, of unity in the Spirit, of honour and value for each other, of global connection.  In a way that is similar to us partaking of Jesus in the bread and wine, we get to share with each other as a united family, the communion of saints, the joining of us all as one.  Whether I like it or not, I am part of the wider global church, even the bits that challenge me or make me feel uncomfortable, the things I scroll past quickly. 

So, I need to face some of the barriers and issues that prevent me from connecting deeply with all of the church, starting with my own local church family.  It’s time to engage!