Table of Contents | A fundamental yearning of all human beings is rooted in the need to belong. And from its earliest days the church has understood itself as a community of belonging. Martin E. Marty, emeritus church historian at the University of Chicago, goes so far as to insist that the Christian faith "isn't an individualistic faith for isolated persons." Room is allowed for "Robinson Crusoes who are temporarily and artificially separated from the community of faith. But Christianity doesn't allow for Tarzans who come to maturity by a self-civilizing process in the jungle." Some form of community is inherent in the nature of the faith. This is the meaning of the aphorism, "Outside the church, there is no salvation." There is no way to be Christian, in the way the New Testament describes it, in splendid isolation. Thus, if you are interested in the issue of what a follower of Jesus looks like then you may want to check this weblog. I am contending that an authentic follower of Jesus is part of a community. In fact, I am willing to argue that to be human a person must find an avenue to the fulfillment of this need. I am convinced that the person who looks to him will find that the best way to do life is duet, not solo. Yes, I am utterly convinced that every human being on this planet has, at minimum, two fundamental needs beyond those of food, clothing and shelter. If a person is to be authentically human and remain that way and grow, he or she must have needs of meaning and belonging met. Here I am concerned with belonging. The fulfillment of this need is crucial to development. I believe that every human being must belong in order to be. All the "watering holes" and "happy hour" spots specialize in filling this need. Cheers was an example where "everybody knows your name." The number of restaurants keeps growing in response to this fundamental need. You see, there are parts of my body that I can't see and I need a mirror. There are, also, parts of my inner being of which I am unaware. If I am to cope with these of which I am unaware, I need "mirrors," others, to help me "see" my inmost self. The need for community or belonging is rooted in our very nature. That's why involvement in a group is important. Every person needs a person he or she can invite to the "inner altar of one's soul" to help with the task of seeing self realistically, openly and honestly. When people recognize that they "belong" to each other and when they submit their images of themselves to each other for correction and/or affirmation then that is what church is about. The church is at its best when it calls people to live and learn together. Clearly, the deep yearning of modern people for fellowship or belonging has been sharpened by the exigencies of life in this post-modern world. Relationships have been depersonalized as a result of the impact of urbanization, technology and industrialization. We are closer because of instant communication such as electronic mail and jet travel. But we have achieved proximity without community. Hostility and hate and killings and wars are as numerous as ever. There is a need to find a way to turn back this tide. Something other than a "herd consciousness" or a "conforrmity cult" is required. The underlying acceptance of people that is part of the church at its best can link up all races and classes and peoples. The church understood as a "fellowship of faith" can help people dwell together in peace as brothers and sisters. The barriers can be transcended and the church can be a harbinger of the new life in Jesus. The church can be a highly visible community where the barriers don't exist and there is authentic human relating. Many, if not most, of the problems of life have to do with the difficulty of living together. On any given day the newspaper makes it clear that human beings have an almost infinite capacity for disagreeing with one another, often to the point of conflict and rebellion and war. The list of illustrations is lengthy: the United States, Iraq, Iran and North Korea; the Israelis and Palestinians; Democrats and Republicans; Protestants and Catholics; Christians, Jews and Muslim people; management and labor; conservatives and liberals; gays and straights; Afro-American, Euro-American and native American; Asian American and Latin American. The list is long and, it seems, is growing, not shrinking. The difficulty extends even farther when it disrupts families and when it sours relationships in general. It doesn't stop with these either. The problem of living together runs through every area and level of life. The church isn't guiltless because dissension is evident there too. Yet, we have the temerity to claim that we want to be a model of what it means to live together. What we dare to claim is that when we are committed to a loyalty that transcends petty differences then there is a way to learn to "live together." That transcending loyalty, for the church, is to God and God's realm because of Jesus. This is not a task that can be accomplished easily. Indeed, the church has already been at this task for nearly two thousand years! But it is the mission of the church when it understands itself as a community of belonging.
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