29th June 2025
Ordinary Habits that Change the World:
They devoted themselves to... the fellowship...
How many of us have encountered a toddler who, despite all the evidence to the contrary, insists repeatedly on doing something "by myself"? As unique individuals, made in the image of God, we rightly value our uniqueness and our autonomy. The desire to sort out problems "by myself" often remains strong within us. I speak as a single and not very tall woman who has worked out a wide range of strategies to cope with challenges from reaching items on high shelves to changing light bulbs... although occasionally, even I have to accept my limitations and call in a man!
On top of this, we live in an individualist society and culture. It's no accident that Frank Sinatra's "I did it my way" continues to top the list of funeral music choices. I wonder how many of your favourite worship songs use the pronoun "I" and "my" and how many use "we" and "our"?
Growing in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour is good. It is from that relationship, from our abiding in Jesus, that everything else flows. But we were never intended to do this alone. The earliest Christians, in Acts 2, would not have understood a faith that relied on individual reading of scripture, private prayer, listening to worship songs of my choice on YouTube or Spotify. For them, faith was always communal: a messy, intergenerational gathering of people, probably in someone's home around a meal, or a commitment to going together to the temple at set times to pray. The habits of faith were built up in community.
Fellowship is important. I am not supposed to do the Christian life "by myself". It is in the context of church, of that messy, intergenerational gathering of people - some of whom are like me, some of whom are not, some of whom like me, some of whom don't, some of whom agree with me, some of whom don't - that I learn to grow in the ordinary habits of faith. It's as part of a fellowship that I learn that my hearing of what God is saying through his word is not always the same as my neighbour - and my understanding is deepened as I reflect on our differences. It's as part of a fellowship that I learn what it means to serve, to share, to love, to pray. It's as part of a fellowship that, when my life is falling to pieces, I discover the strength of the love that others hold for me - and as part of a fellowship that I can offer that same love and strength to others who are in need.
The Apostle Peter writes to Jews scattered around the Mediterranean world "... like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house..." (1 Peter 2:3). A house cannot be built from one individual stone; it needs the stones to come together, to support one another... and if one stone falls out, the entire house is weakened.
Is there a problem I am trying to solve "by myself" at the moment? How could I take that and use it as an opportunity to grow into deeper fellowship with other Christians?
