(Late)-Week Missive: We Are All Family…Some of Us Are Friends.

The Mid-Week Missive is based on Community Rules: An Episcopal Manual by Ian Markham and Kathryn Glover, both administrators at Virginia Theological Seminary.  I am working my way through this book, reading and writing  through the lens of our Life Together as part of the Christ the King Episcopal Church family, as well as part of the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast. 

We now are moving on to Section II: Basic Christian Rules in Relationship. Markham and Glover offer this introduction to Section II: “The first six rules are the fundamentals. They are an intrinsic part of the Christian worldview. In [Section II], we apply these rules to our relationships with each other. In particular, this is the application of the second rule: remember people are made in the image of God.”

Rule # 7: We Are All Family…Some of Us Are Friends. Markham and Glover’s reflection on this rule can be found in their book, which can be purchased here. 

How does this rule apply to our Life Together at Christ the King? Most - if not all - of us prefer to be with our friends. We play tennis, cards, or music, go to the gym or beach, and break bread with those with whom we share common interests and affections.

But what about church? Do we – or should we – choose our church based on our friendships? Some do and some don’t. It depends on what someone is looking for in a church. If a primary consideration for someone’s choice of church is fellowship and community, then some will choose their church based on existing friendships or the hope for new friendships. However, if someone is primarily interested in Sunday worship – hearing the Word preached/proclaimed, offering prayers, receiving absolution from sin, and receiving the sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood, they may have no interest in or expectation for friendship at church. Neither of the above motives are better than the other, and I think that most of us are motivated by both of them. It doesn’t have to be either/or.

But regardless of what our primary motive for being a part of Christ the King is, what is not really a matter of choice or preference is the fact that through our baptisms, we are family. We are all members of Christ’s Body – the Church – and we have been called to live out this “familyhood of Christ” in the particular context of Christ the King. Our context is unique in that most of us are 1st Generation members of the CtK family. Ours is a relatively new church, and we don’t have generations of local family patterns, habits, and rituals to ground us in our life together here. So we are a young family, establishing those local patterns, habits, and rituals that ground us here and now, but will also serve as the foundation for future generations to come. And that reality is profoundly significant to me.

 My hope is that many of us have found or will find deep, meaningful friendships in their time here at Christ the King. But even more than that, my hope is that we experience and embody the familyhood of Christ’s Body here at CtK. This Christian family bond – born through baptism and nurtured through Holy Eucharist - runs deeper and stronger than even the best of friendships. Thanks be to God for those friends that we may have here at Christ the King. But even more, thanks be to God for our Church family at Christ the King. See you at our weekly family reunion this Sunday!

Pax,

Richard+