We continue re-imagining church as the living reality of being the family of God. I know you are reading, as I receive phonecalls with interesting questions. Over the past two weeks we considered that in the Family Members take care of one another, and that the Family Spend Time Together.
Today I would like to address yet another practice of a church as Christ meant it. Family members Show One Another Affection. It is not a coincidence that the Sabbath School quarterly “Loved and Loving” comes when we are focusing on the need for developing loving relationships in the church. Last weeks lesson was especially poignant in addressing it.
How do you greet your family when you meet them? How do you salute your mother, father, children, especially after a time apart? I just returned from a week at Oshkosh with kids, missed my wife, and I knew I would have a special hug. How do we meet our family? Do we salute each other at a distance, or do we exchange hugs and, maybe even kisses?
The answer depends on how “healthy” is your family. The early church considered all its members “related” in Christ and that’s why apostles encouraged Christians to “greet one another with a holy kiss” (1st Thessalonians 5:26; 1st Corinthians 16:20; 2nd Corinthians 13:12; Romans 16:16; 1st Peter 5:14) It was important to early Christians that the members of each church express their affection for one another visibly.
I know that even by writing these simple Biblical references I will provoke concern among some people reading it. We live in a sick and dysfunctional society which glorifies perversion, abuse, and then hypocritically misinterprets what is normal. I’ve met and heard church members who complained that they do not feel comfortable hugging anyone from the church. I’ve read about pastors put on trial for encouraging hugs in church as inappropriate.
Bottom line is this – an institutional formal church and an organic family of God are different things. The dysfunctional family shows no affections toward its members, parents never touch its children, and children grow up feeling unloved and unaccepted. Yet, you’ve read findings where a simple touch is vital for infants, children without a loving touch will not live.
May your actions show your affection! Do not let the contagion of the sick society make God’s family ill too…
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