Be a family

It was never God's intention that the church should only become an institution. Our creator always wanted her to behave like a family and treat each other with love. When he decided to lay down the basic elements for human civilization, he created the family as a unit. It should serve as a model for the church. With church we refer to a community of those called out who serve God and their fellow human beings with love. Churches that have been formally institutionalized are losing the strength that God intended.

As Jesus hung on the cross, his thoughts were with his family and figuratively with his future church. «When Jesus saw his mother and with her the disciple whom he loved, he said to his mother: Woman, see, this is your son! Then he said to the disciple: See, this is your mother! And from that hour the disciple took her with him »(John 19,26-27). He turned to his mother and to the disciple John and with his words laid the beginning of what the church would become, God's family.

In Christ we become "brothers and sisters". This is not a sentimental expression, but shows an accurate picture of what we are as a church: called out in God's family. It's a pretty mixed bunch of stressed people. In this family there are former demon-obsessed people, tax collectors, doctors, fishermen, political radicals, doubters, former prostitutes, non-Jews, Jews, men, women, old people, young people, academics, workers, extroverts or introverts.

Only God could bring all these people together and transform them into a unity based on love. The truth is that the church lives together like a real family. By God's grace and calling, radically different characters are transformed into God's likenesses and thus remain connected with each other in love.

If we agree that the family concept should be an example of church life, what IS a healthy family? One trait that working families show is that each member is concerned about the others. Healthy families try to create the best for each other. Healthy families strive to help each member as much as possible. God wants to develop his potential through, with and in him. It is not always easy for us humans, especially given the diversity of personalities and people with mistakes that are God's family. Too many Christians wander around looking for the ideal ecclesiastical family, but God asks us to love who you are with. Someone once said: Everyone can love the ideal church. The challenge is to love the true church. God's Church in the Neighbor.

Love is more than just a feeling. It also affects our behavior. Community and friendship are essential elements in a harmonious family. Nowhere does Scripture give us permission to just stop going to church, to be family because someone did something to us. There was considerable controversy and controversy in the early Church, but the gospel and its preaching were maintained and overcome, thanks to God's Holy Spirit.

When Evodia and Syntyche did not get along, Paul encouraged the parties involved to overcome their differences 4,2). Paul and Barnabas once had a heated argument over John Mark that they parted ways5,36-40). Paul resisted Peter face to face because of his hypocrisy among the Gentiles and Jews (Galatians 2,11).

There will certainly be uncomfortable times with each other, but being one family in Christ means that we will keep them together. It is immature love, or, in other words, lovelessness that makes us go away from God's people. The testimony of the family of God is so effective that Jesus said that through our love for one another, everyone would know that we belong to him.
There is a story of a banker who always threw a coin into the mug of a leg-amputated beggar who was sitting on the street in front of the bank. But unlike most people, the banker always insisted on getting one of the pencils the man had next to him. You are a merchant, said the banker, and I always expect good value from dealers with whom I do business. One day the leg amputee was not on the sidewalk. Time passed and the banker forgot about him until he entered a public building and the former beggar was sitting there in a kiosk. Obviously, he was now the owner of a small business. I always hoped that one day you would come over, said the man. You are largely responsible for being here. They kept telling me that I was "a merchant". I started to see myself that way instead of being a beggar who receives alms. I started selling pencils - many of them. They gave me self-respect and made me see myself differently.

What is important?

The world may never see the Church for what it really is, but we should! Christ changes everything. There is a real family in him who will spend eternal life together. In him we become brothers and sisters, a family despite all our differences. These new family ties will forever be in Christ. Let us continue to spread this message in word and deed to the world around us.

by Santiago Lange