Have you witnessed an online wedding recently? I did a few during the pandemic. At least one good thing from the pandemic is that Indian weddings have become quite simple. I hope this will continue in the future.
Online weddings are fine, but how about an online marriage? Here is one I witnessed. It was my colleague’s wedding. Let me give you a little background. The couple met each other a few years back on a flight from Kolkata to Bangalore. The girl is from Kolkata, and the guy is from Bangalore. They shared their contacts and were in touch since then.
Eventually, they fell in love, and after considering for over 4 years, they finally decided to marry. But here is the thing — neither of them what to leave their city. Both happily agreed to this arrangement. It’s weird, right? But this is something they were hoping for.
Since the pandemic convinced everyone about online weddings. They agreed to marry online from different locations. They more or less convinced their family, and the invitations were sent out. I, too, received my invite.
Since I did not know the back story while watching the wedding, I wondered why were they not together. I thought the bride is in a different country, so she could not travel for the wedding. But, why canʼt they wait until the international travel resumes?
They shared their vows over live video and signed the marriage certificate with digital signatures. Wow. Am I in 2050? Nevertheless, the celebrations were terrific in both locations.
A few days later, I called my colleague to congratulate him. He was pretty excited. He mentioned how lucky they both were as they could pull this off. Since the travel was resumed, I thought she would have moved to Bangalore. But surprisingly, that was not the case.
About six months later, I saw a post by my colleague on the social media. He posted that they are preparing to adopt a child. Wow! So immediately thought they would have changed their mind and moved together. But shockingly, no.
The plan looks like the child is going to be with the girl initially. They are working on the adoption process, which may take a while. Interestingly his post is getting so many likes.
I asked him. How is this going to work out? He positively said that it is going to be alright like any other family. “Once the child grows up, she may be with whomever she wants. This is required to keep our lives and careers as planned. In fact, this is also good for the child to have freedom. Isnʼt it?”
I was puzzled. What kind of marriage is this?
He once mentioned how they maintain their relationship through their weekly video calls. Supposedly, they chat frequently on WhatsApp and Instagram. They gift each other on different occasions. In fact, most of the kitchen stuff at his home is ordered by her. He keeps complimenting her whenever I have these conversations with him.
Now, you and I would be wondering, what about their physical intimacy? I could not ask him about that. But he mentioned that their weekly calls are pretty romantic. He also told me that they did meet once for a weekend holiday in Kerala. It looks like they are planning to meet once a year if possible.
To me, this was very unsettling. I guess this may not last long but, I donʼt see any signs though. What if this continues? If they break up, what does it really mean?
The above story never happened, and I hope it never happens, but, indeed, our attitude towards the body of Christ (local church) is not any different. We have believed that associating with a church is a good thing for many selfish reasons. We developed our theology, liturgy, and identity on this attitude. All that matters are our denominational identities and their privileges, church membership, and the ritual of our weekly gathering for some spiritual romance and talent show.
By the way, I am not speaking about the online church format during this pandemic. In principle, we have been “online” for a long time.
Why do I say this? You may ask, “aren’t there any who are serious about the church?” Yes, there are but, here is the question we need to ask. Is our understanding of the church in line with the gospel of the kingdom? If not, we probably are not the Church Jesus is building.
I want to discuss at least three reasons for the collapse of the gospel communities — sociological, theological, and spiritual.
Sociological reason
Our contemporary global culture is mainly framed by a social philosophy that makes every person isolate themselves from their family, friends, and society. Many broadly term it “Individualism.” Though it was developed with some good ideas since the renaissance, today’s prevalent form is toxic. It sapped the virtues of public life and the common good.
On the other hand, collectivism which is counter-cultural to individualism, doesn’t make it any better. Both have benefits and downsides. The west is predominantly an individualistic society, but this philosophy is prevalent globally to varying degrees.
The self-centered form of individualism has no place for the common good. Here, my life is centered around my career, job, wealth, possessions, talents, fame, family, etc. Knowing or unknowingly, the church has confirmed to this pattern of living. Today as a local body of Christ, we have almost nothing to live life in common. Therefore discipleship, hospitality, charity, practically becomes impossible.
Unfortunately, today’s popular theology is developed in predominantly individualistic cultures. We interpreted the scriptures, which were written in the collectivist value system, with our individualistic eyes.
Unfortunately, this has led to the creations of communities around an individual or an individual’s ideals. We failed to understand that Gospel communities are created by the Spirit of God in Christ. We only participate as thankful recipients, not demanding visionaries.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “Christian brotherhood is not an ideal that we must realize; it is instead a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.”
This leads us to the following problem.
Theological reason
In my title, I called gospel communities because the gospel leads us to the household of God or the Father’s house. This household of God is the ecclesia (church) of the kingdom, which is called to become the city on a hill that brings light to this dark world. (1 Timothy 3:15)
For over a century, this understanding of Father’s household was hijacked by a misguided idea that the gospel is about going to heaven after we die. Therefore we have lost the meaning of the kingdom of God, church, and discipleship, among many other things. We were taught that the kingdom of God is what we see after Jesus’s second coming. Hence our life, meanwhile, has no significance. This probably is the result of the individualistic interpretation of the scripture.
According to this theology, the local church becomes an incubator for our afterlife — sin management and spiritual massage center. Therefore our church events were designed to serve these expectations.
Today, our individualistic, consumeristic Christianity is curating its own spiritual experiences. They say, “I love God, enjoy singing contemporary worship songs, watch sermons from top speakers, read books, and live a ‘good’ life; why do I need a church?
Have you noticed the consequences of a poor understanding of the gospel? Our mistaken theology has practically made ekklesia (church) meaningless, community & discipleship non-existent. It is reduced to a holy huddle, an incubator for the afterlife, or a complete waste of time.
This gospel does not lead us to the Father’s house. It leads us to ‘homeless spirituality.’ A form of spirituality that seeks its own interests over the interests of others. This has led us to the collapse of gospel communities. The city on a hill has disappeared.
God is urging us to return to his household. He does not need rockstar preachers, mega-churches, Christian ministries while the Father’s house remains empty.
Spiritual reason
This is at the heart of the problem. Gospel communities are formed by the Spirit of God and founded solely on Jesus, with the purpose to become partakers of his divine nature and extend his kingdom here on earth. The central characteristic of God’s divine nature is his love.
Jesus speaking with his disciples, said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34:35)
Now what God did to me, I owe it to others in the body of Christ. (Romans 15:7) When there is no love among us, we cease to become his body, though we may pretend to be in love during our Sunday huddle. John clearly mentioned, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1John 4:7,8)
Jesus reminds the church at Ephesus, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” (Revelation 2:4) He warns them that he will remove her lampstand if they do not repent. When there is no love, we cease to become his dwelling place.
Returning to the household of God
As the firstborn of the Father, Jesus, through his death and Resurrection, came to redeem and restore us back to the Father’s house. That is the responsibility of the firstborn in the ancient patriarchal household.
It is a household where the patriarch lives with his children, grandchildren, and their families. Even his younger siblings and the families of their children are part of the household. The patriarch’s responsibility is to protect and provide for this extended family.
In the biblical narrative, God’s intention to dwell with us is evident. He desires to be our Father, and we, his sons and daughters. (2 Corinthians 6:16–18 ESV) In the garden, he was with Adam and Eve. Garden was his dwelling place, which was desolated by our rebellion against Him.
Though our rebellion separated us from God and his dwelling place, he restored that separation partially at Sinai. God said to Moses to build a tabernacle so that he can be among his people. The tabernacle later became the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus mentions this temple as his “Father’s house.” (Matthew 21:13, Luke 2:49)
When the tabernacle at Sinai and the temple in Jerusalem were dedicated, “fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.” (Exodus 40:34–38, 2Chronicles 7:1 ESV)
On the day of Pentecost, fire came down from heaven and rested on each of the disciples to dedicate his new temple. In Jesus, his ecclesia has become the Father’s house. That is why Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23 ESV)
When Jesus said, “In my Father’s house, there are many rooms.” He is not talking about floating mansions above the clouds. It is this house he is talking about.
That is why Paul writes that we are his temple. We are the body of Christ. By our obedience to God in faith, we are born into this household by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3). That is why Jesus said, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:50)
This household of God becomes our new family and identity. Therefore, symbolically, we are baptized into this family in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. To a disciple of Jesus, this identity ought to take preeminence over our earthly identities. I think this is when the sword comes into our households, according to Mathew 10:34–39.
The early church took care of the orphans and widows, which was actually the temple’s task. They did this because they understood that they are now the new temple. They carried another’s burdens; submitted to one another, shared all things in common, confessed their sins with each other, showed hospitality, etc. (Acts 2:42–47) (Matthew 6:9–13)
In living as a household of God and doing the Father’s will, we are called to disciple nations. (Matthew 28:18–20)(1Peter 2:12)
Paul says to Philippians, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice.” (Philippians 4:9) My life on Sunday morning may be perfect, but do my brothers and sisters see how I run my business, treat my spouse, raise my kids, steward my finances? I don’t mean we should interfere in other’s life or become a Christian ghetto, but we must live life in common as a family of God in the midst of the dark world.
Our call to the Father’s house demands a counter-cultural way of living. Submitting to one another, considering others more significant than myself, bearing one another burdens, forgiving one another, washing other’s feet, confessing my sins, in worship to our Father in the name of Christ. This is the kingdom on heaven that our Father wants to put on display that the world may know him.
I confess that I have also confirmed to this world’s pattern and ignored the Father’s house for many years. The spirit of the age has made the return an impossible task. Nevertheless, let us persevere in returning to the Father’s house; he is waiting for us, he is willing to help us.
Returning to the ecclesia of the kingdom
The gospel of the kingdom is good tidings about God’s reign. (Isaiah 41) That means Jesus, who is the Prince of Shalom, is now the Lord of all creation.
When we hear this gospel and obey, we are born into the family of God to take our place in his ecclesia. When Jesus said, “I will build my ekklesia (church),” he did not mean an incubator, building, club, denomination, or even an organization. Ekklesia is a political term from ancient Greece. Webster’s dictionary says, “a political assembly of citizens of ancient Greek states.”
Its root meaning is a compound of two parts, Ek a preposition meaning out of and a verb keleo signifying to call — hence to call out. So in the historical context, every male citizen above 18 years was called out from their homes to a public place to look into the state’s public affairs like voting, judging as proposed by the council.
The term ekklesia presupposes a king, a kingdom, and its citizens responsible for looking into its public affairs. Jesus’s ekklesia is for his kingdom to serve as its priests.
The gospel of Jesus calls us to the Father’s house as his children, and to the kingdom of heaven, to serve as his priests and citizens. Our worship to our Father and king Jesus is to be faithful to this call. “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” (Romans 8:19)
How glorious is our calling in Jesus.
The failure of the local church
You may ask, “What happens when my local church rejects me?” That is precisely the problem I am raising in this article. When we have lost the gospel, we have lost the Father’s house, even when we have a grand church building. Our Father does not reject those who seek to obey him despite our failures. You and I are called to implore our brothers and sisters around us in love to return to our Father’s house.
Here is a poignant story of the great Dutch painter who saw God’s glory leaving his church depicted in the above painting. Let us pray that we may see God’s glory return to the community of His saints in our times.
Not many know Vincent Van Gogh was born into a line of Dutch reformed pastors and that he was trained for the pastorate. It was only when the church elders rejected his call that he turned to work as an evangelist. He lived among the poor with Franciscan devotion. But the authorities who sent him were appalled by the filthy condition he chose to share. They rejected him again and pronounced him “unfit for the dignity of the priesthood.”
Time spent in consideration of his famous Starry Night can become a journey into his heart. The painting is set in Arles, France. Notice that at the very center of the painting is a white Dutch reformed church. Vincent imported a church building from childhood, pasting it into the French landscape to create a parable of his own life.
Notice how the homes surrounding the church are lit with warm light. The church is the only building in the painting that is completely dark. Herein lies Vincent’s message, the Spirit has left the church, at least the building — but is active in nature. If you follow the painting’s visual flow, your eyes will cycle upward, still anchored by the church building. Your gaze will come to rest in the upper right corner, on the sun/moon. This is not just a moon, nor a sun, but a combination. Vincent wanted to show that the Spirit of God transcends even nature — that in the Resurrection, in the New Earth and the New Heaven, a completely new order will shape the things to come.
An excerpt from the book Culture Care by Makoto Fujimura
Thanks for reading. I think these are just my initial thoughts. This topic needs more discussion and confessions. Appreciate your comments below.
