“But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head — Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and KNIT TOGETHER by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.”
Ephesians 4:15-16, CSB
The Church is born as it receives the proclamation of Christ’s good news, and the Church grows as this good news, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, sinks in and flows out of its life and speech. This life-giving news is that God, through Christ, is drawing and reconciling all things to Himself (Eph 1:10). And the Church is that “called out” and gathered community which has yielded itself in faith to God’s reconciling, unifying work… and now joins Him in it (2 Cor 5:18-19). The Church, by its connection to Christ, is at the spearhead of God’s grand re-creation, and one day all the broken pieces of our sin-fractured universe will be swept up and reforged as one kingdom under the glorious and eternal reign of God.
Through the completed work of Christ on the cross and the continuing work of the Spirit within and through the Church, God is patiently unraveling all of the knots and is working a new thread into our frayed fabric: an enlivening Thread that will one day be worked into the fabric of all of the creation that groans and longs for the redemptive prick of God’s needle. To be united to Christ is, therefore, to be interwoven and united with all others whom He has reconciled to Himself as His beloved community. In Him, all relationships are being set right because they are being cleansed of sin and worshipfully reoriented around our glorious and all-sufficient God. Christ is our Head, and we the redeemed are the interconnected members of His one Body.
Furthermore, to be incorporated into Christ’s Body is to receive His reconciling pulsebeat as our own: to reach out and become His ministers of reconciliation to the dying world that has yet to hear and receive the good news of His redemption. Yes, we are united for worship, but we are also united for mission: both are oriented around the proclamation and embodiment of the good news, around “speaking the truth in love.” Christ has opened the way for us to be reunited with our heavenly Father, and as we accept our Father’s embrace and receive His love, we adopt His love for an estranged world that is longing for good news… for reunion. We must each find our proper place within Christ’s Body, so that we can work as one to grow the Body by reconciling others to Christ.
Come join us at Western Camp this year as we explore what it truly means to be knit together and sent out as Christ’s Church!
