Fr Robert Hendrickson

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.

All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47

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Dear Friends in Christ,

The passage above is the whole of this Sunday’s first reading. I also think it is one of the most succinct and evocative descriptions of what it means to be the Church together.

A devoted group of Christ followers committed themselves to pray and worship together. They supported one another in times of hardship out of what they had been given. Prayer was a part of their daily life and the simple act of eating was done with a sense of profound thanksgiving. Out of this simple life of faith great wonders were done and many were saved.

That is, essentially, what it means to be the Church together. We can make it more complicated or less demanding. Someone asked me once what the difference between spirituality and religion was. I answered, cheekily, that religion is spirituality with consequences.

What I meant was that religion is defined by relationship. Sure, you can sing by yourself, but you are not a symphony. Sure, you can paint by yourself but it is millennia of practice and artistry that an artist picking up a brush for the first time inherits. Anyone can dance, but at some point a partner takes a dance to a deeper place. We individuals are not the sum of our capacity for goodness.

Real relationship is necessarily consequential. So when we say we are followers of Christ, then there are necessary consequences for how we live, work, pray, give, serve, and more. The consequence, for us, is simply that we are being called, in each relationship, each act of service, each moment of care, and in each prayer, into the image and likeness of Christ.

The consequence of our religion, at its best, is holiness. Of course, practice devoid of spirituality becomes a tinderbox for sin. However, religion envisioned and lived rightly is all about relationship and our connection to one another, to God, to creation, to creatures, and to both past and future.

By such a life of deep and committed relationship with God and one another in Christ, wonders may yet be done and many more, even us, saved.

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert