“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10: 25)
“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” (John 17: 18)
This is a conversation that has absorbed Christians down the centuries. It will not be resolved this side of the cross. For as long as this present time and dispensation continue, we will ask questions, pertinent ones, about how we are to hold the balance between staying together as a community (Hebrews 10: 25) and venturing out into the world as witnesses of Christ (John 17: 18).
Dichotomies happen when we don’t work out the tensions of the tightrope. Either we become so introverted as a community because staying together is the only means we have of securing our ‘christian’ identity, or else we are so sold on the idea of extroversion that only ‘going out’ into the world and marketplace as witnesses makes sense in the Christian life.
The truth is, as we all know at the back of our minds, both apply. The church as community, essentially one Body of Christ who is the Head, is called to assemble together (and often too!) for a purpose. It is to demonstrate to the world, by its very separateness and consecration, just how a holy community is to live and behave and treat one another … because the Spirit lives in us. There is a corporateness and communal aspect to our faith that cannot be played down.
Of course, church activities must be meaningful. These days, we have too much of activity that raises question marks, even among the least critical and most accepting of us. The reasons for our activities must certainly be pinned to answering the question: how does this make us more united and harmonious, so that what flows out of us demonstrates how Christ is our peace that has broken down every wall? Sometimes we lose sight of this. Sometimes our meetings are shameful things that raise doubts in others that Christ is indeed the Way, the Truth, the Life. But it was not so in the beginning! Christ’s intention was for us to be one, as he and the Father were one.
Cultivating a Christian identity requires a community to give it form, structure, expression. It is not the only means, but it is key. On the other hand, to remain stuck within the confines of the church walls defeats the mission of Christ, the work for which he sent us to complete. The church in Acts understood this. So deeply united were they that the threat of built-in obsolescence closed in on their introversion and separation from the world. A church that does not look outwards dies inwardly. We are not surprised that widespread persecution in Jerusalem forced the Christians to scatter abroad. The effects were astounding because individual disciples brought Christianity to the world, fulfilling Acts 1: 8 even in those early days.
Introversion vs. Extroversion. How we manouevre our way on the tightrope tells us how effectively we are living and witnessing to the truth that lives in us. It reveals how relevant (or irrelevant) we are to our society and world, but also, how spot-on (or not) we are as the consecrated Body and Bride of Christ. We move in the kairos moments of our partnership with God to work out his eternal plans, both in our introversion and contemplation of ourselves as his chosen and called-out community, as well as in our extroverted life as the witness for the gospel.
Tightrope artistes are born to walk a thin line.
Our tightrope challenge is this: if we fail in meaningful introversion, we miss the spirit and power that integrate us as one indivisible whole. When that happens, expect dissension and quarrelling. If we falter in our witness to others, we miss the whole point of Jesus’ welcoming shalom to the world … expect a watered-down and flaccid Christianity. So much depends on us that we will never comprehend the deep trust that God has in us, his people. It is a remarkable thing, that so much of the way the world turns, its fortunes and disasters, should fall into our hands that are held up by the hand of God.
Tightrope artistry was meant to distinguish and describe us. I wonder if it really does.
