Follow Christ: April 2018

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Many people today ask, ‘Why should I go to church?’ Why can’t I just worship God in my own way?

Many people today ask, ‘Why should I go to church?’ Why can’t I just worship God in my own way? Surely religion gets in the way with my personal relationship with God?’ From the earliest times, following Jesus was never just a private or personal matter. Christians came together to live in community, to profess their faith in Jesus Christ, to witness to his resurrection and live by his teachings. The reason given for this is given by Christ himself, when he said, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches.’ The vine and its branches are one. There is a mutual interdependence of branch and vine, and branch with branch. To say, ‘I will follow Jesus but no the Church’ is to separate Jesus from the Church, to cut off the branches from the vine. The first disciples of Jesus had seen him, eaten with him, and spoken with him after his resurrection. As a consequence they had a deep sense of connectedness with him, a connectedness from which they drew great strength. Jesus had chosen them. He had made them his friends and sent them out to bear fruit, fruit that will last. By this all will know that we are living branches of the Vine – by the bond that exists between us and the care we show for one another.
I am the Vine, you are the branches