Valerie Rae Hanneman
Ephesians 4:4-6 (NIV) "There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."
Last summer I went to Jos, Nigeria to work at the Faith Alive Medical Clinic. Papa God has allowed me to have some extraordinary adventures as I serve Him, but there is no doubt that this six week period was both the most unexpected and the most satisfying adventure that I have had with Him. Six weeks was a long time to be gone from my children, my mom and my church family. I was surprised at just how much I missed everybody. (I have to be honest and admit that not once did I miss my job.) I made a lot of new friends in Jos and attended many wonderful churches - but there were days when the loneliness weighed heavy on my heart. The worst day of all - the one day that actually had me in tears - was the first Sonday in August. The first Sonday of every month is Communion Sonday at Fresno First Baptist and it has been years since I have missed it. It is the most meaningful service for me as I stand with my church family that I love so very much (and with whom I will stand with for all of eternity) and remember with them the reason we will be together for eternity. On this first Sonday in August I was thousands upon thousands of miles from everybody that I love and from traditions I cherish, and I was feeling every inch of that distance. On that Sonday morning, as I got dressed to attend a church where I was a stranger and an oddity, I wept the tears of the broken-hearted and lonely. I thought about celebrating communion by myself - but in the end - didn’t. It just wasn’t the same.
There are two sacraments - or traditions- or whatever religious word you want to put on them - that Jesus left behind for us. They are baptism and communion. There are two laws that He left us with. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, body and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. He gave us one mission - go into all the world and make disciples. He left three practices for the Church to follow. To serve each other, to love each other and to be one with each other.
There aren’t any specific instructions on how we are to baptize or take communion. I think that is because He left it up to us to determine the method that is the most meaningful to us. After all, the only important thing is the inward change that these outward traditions represent. And although the two laws He left us are pretty all-encompassing, there are no specific ways to fulfill them. Maybe that is because Jesus did not want to put limitations on our love. The way that I love God with all I got may not be the way that you love God with all you got. The only thing that is important to our God is that we love Him with all we got. His command to go into the world and make disciples is pretty vague also. Again, He did not want limitations on how we reach out to the world. There are a plethora of ministries throughout the world focused on reaching the lost. Some are traditional, some are far from that. Some reach one person at a time - some reach thousands at a time. Some work for me, some work for you and some work for neither of us - but do work for somebody. It seems as if God is pretty loosey-goosey with these - but not with the three practices of the Church. When it comes to how we serve, how we love and how we are one Jesus gets a lot more specific on how we are to do this. In Matthew 20:27-29 Jesus says, "And whoever wants to be first must be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." On the last night of Jesus’ earthly life He became a slave to the disciples when He took a basin of water and washed their feet. This was a job reserved for the lowest of the low, and it was embraced by the Highest of the high, because He came to serve. This is how He wants us to serve. We are to willingly serve as the lowest of the low as He did, because we serve the Highest of the high. In John 13:34b Jesus says, "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Jesus doesn’t want us to just love one another, he wants us to love one another as He has loved us. Now that makes me just a wee bit nervous, because Jesus died of love for me. Does He want me to die for love of you? Now in some cases, that might be pretty easy - but then there are those other cases......... I think even more than to be willing to die for the love of each other, Jesus wants us to live for the love of each other. He loves us so much He put us first before Himself. I wonder what would happen in the Church if we loved each other so much that we put others first before ourselves? In John 17:11b Jesus prayed, “Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave me – so that they may be one as We are one.” Jesus wants His Church to be one as He and Father are one. Does being one mean being exactly the same? No – any more than Father and Jesus are exactly the same. And yet, Father and Jesus are one. And that is what Jesus wants for us – His Church. That we be one.
That is what I forgot when I was in Jos on that first Sonday morning in August. I forgot that the Church is one. We are one in service, we are one in love, we are one. We are one in our mission, we are one in our God, we are one in our sacraments, we are one. We will not stand in eternity with Fresno First grouped together, Westminster Pres together, Evie Free together. We will stand in eternity as one – as the one Church. No denominations, no disagreements over methods, traditions, baptism, communion, music or anything else. We are one. That was what I finally remembered while I was worshiping God on that first Sonday in August in Jos, Nigeria. It is okay that I missed my family and my extended family while I was in Jos. I am created to be in relationship, first with God and then with others. What was not okay was the importance I placed on being in Fresno First Baptist on that Sonday. It does not matter if I am in Fresno First Baptist, in Fresno or if I am in United Baptist in Jos Nigeria. All that matters is that I am standing with the one true Church, worshiping the one True God. All that matters is that I am one with the Church.
LORD Jesus, I love my local church and I thank You for blessing me with them. Help me to not forget that I am one with something that spans all of history and fills every time zone. I am one with Your Eternal Church. We are one in service, one in love and one in You.
Contact Valerie or sign up for the e-Ministry of Fresno First at valerie@fresnofirst.org