The Impossible Life

IV.    Vows of Voluntary Sacrifice

“We freely offer up our appetites, wealth, and pride to relieve the suffering of the world, for the sake of our neighbors and God’s joy.”
 

20. I will seek out and yield to the counsel and direction of my sisters and brothers for growing into the Spirit and likeness of Jesus Christ; I will regularly examine my life under these vows, and seek the aid and instruction of my brothers and sisters for growing in faithfulness.

There is one unavoidable piece that hasn’t yet been mentioned in these twenty Covenant vows: the necessity of participating in Christian faith community. If our nonviolent discipleship to Jesus is to cover every aspect of our life and have the strength to last through the ups and downs of our entire lives, it will have to be formed in Christ’s own body, the church. Granted, it’s true we can all think of folks we know who better exemplify bits and pieces of these peacemaking vows who aren’t consistently, deeply networked into a Christian faith community—they may not even consider themselves to be Christian. It may even be you trying to live Jesus’ cross-bearing life on your own! But there is something about Jesus’ call that is not possible outside of his community of people.

It may sound like an unnecessary burden to commit oneself to and depend on a group of messy, opinionated, unpolished broken people—especially when our experiences of church so often militate against Jesus peacemaking call! But as sadly true as that is and as much work as it sounds, it is really a grace to have a community surround us, challenge and support us. Because here’s the thing: this discipleship life hinted at in these twenty Covenant vows of Christian Nonviolence is hard work, nay, impossible work for any one person to do on their own. In fact, it’s so hard that no human group can even fully realize it on their own (even the church).

But our offensively exclusive sounding conviction is that the surest way to take part in God’s peaceable kingdom coming right now is to be part of God’s called-out community, the Body of Christ. And it’s true, the people there will not always help you see Jesus. They will not always get his prophetic calling. They will do a lot of navel-gazing and finger pointing. But they are God’s people gifted with the Holy Spirit and besides, who better to learn to live a peacemaking life with than a group who has conflict, who annoys you, who bores you, who offends you, who requires you to be vulnerable, who asks you to mutually give and receive?

“I will seek out and yield to the counsel and direction of my sisters and brothers for growing into the Spirit and likeness of Jesus Christ; I will regularly examine my life under these vows, and seek the aid and instruction of my brothers and sisters for growing in faithfulness.” Today’s vow is not one to take alone, so consider it in the context of where “two or three are gathered in Christ’s name!”

Options For Reflection and Action:

(1) With someone else, read from Matthew 18:15-22.

• Reflect together about what you find difficult about church and what you find life giving. What draws you to the church community? What keeps you away?
• Recall ways in your experience that Christ has been present when “two or three were gathered”?
• How have you been formed by a faith community to seek and give counsel, hold and be held accountable, agree together, and forgive and be forgiven?
• In what other ways has participation with church shaped you as a peacemaker?

(2) Read together also Paul’s words to his sisters and brothers in Galatians 6:1-5. Notice the two-sided, self-differentiated call to both carry our own loads and carry one another’s, to both test ourselves and one another.

• What are the things you need others to help you carry and test?  What load do you need to carry yourself?
• What burden and for whom is God calling you to bear? Who in your community needs restoration?

Prayer Focus

God, thank you for this difficult and lovely group of people, your church.

Thank you for Christ’s presence when we gather.

Thank you for forming your reconciling way in us when we are church together.

Forgive us for when we have failed to bear one another’s burdens,

when we have refused to forgive,

when we have not cared enough to restore one another to right-related fellowship.

Equip us to be your community in a world of individual entitlement.

In the name of the Prince of Peace, Amen