Soulfood

Gunner Gundersen

Christian hymnody is saturated with water and flood imagery. Living in Houston in 2017 brought that home to Gunner and his church there. When storms come, Christians don’t change our songs. We are in a storm of new digital tools which threaten to erode core values that undergird our social structures. We drink the salt water of digital relationships and then wonder why we are still thirsty for companionship. How can we hold onto our humanity?

We do not need a new strategy. We don’t need new tools. We need to cling to what God has already given us – the local church. So don’t give up on the church! Don’t give up on God’s plan for the church expressed in local gatherings. It is the headquarters of God’s project to rehumanize us.

1 Timothy 3:14-16 “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

Twin passions for the gospel of Christ and the church of Christ pulse through this word from Paul. Paul uses the tech of his day (letter writing) to tell Timothy he wants to be physically present. Tech can help us connect but it is no substitute for physical presence. Paul can communicate his love via tech but his desire is to be there with Timothy.

How does God use the basic rituals and rhythms of gathering to rehumanize us?

Each Sunday morning we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We are reminded that on this day the first permanent resurrection took place and renewed humanity was founded.

We leave our own places and we gather in a communal place. I don’t stay in my own place where I am the center. As body parts that are spiritually united we become physically united when we gather as the church. We see each other and greet each other. Christ’s body tangibly reunites. We greet one another with a holy kiss, a tangible visible physical connection with purity. Jesus could heal with his words but so often he uses touch. Good human touch is spiritually meaningful.

We are called to worship. We are never more human than when we gather together to worship God together. The psalter has 145 psalms of supplication, confession, etc. but then it ends with praise to the glory of God.

We pray together. Independence rots our souls, but turning together in need to God restores and renews us. Prayer teaches us intimacy over mere efficiency. Prayer reminds us there is an omniscient being in the universe whose name is not Claude, Siri, Alexa, etc. And we come to Him together.

And we eat together. We hold a love feast wherein we break bread together and drink of the life-giving blood of Jesus. Christ’s family eats together. A regular family meal compels us to deal with our hurts and heartbreaks. We have to deal with each other. When we sit down together we are forced to reconcile, to forgive, to repent. We hold in our hands the broken body and shed blood of the one who died to bring us together in himself.

And we place the sign of the covenant on each other. We see each other sealed to Christ for Christ. We see each other renewed.

And we listen to the word preached which confirms to us that what we are does not come from us but from God. We hear the living word that knits us together in Christ. We are strengthened by the Word made more sure to us by preaching.

And we serve each other bodily as we see needs and meet them from the fullness of what God has given to us. When the needs are visible and tangible we see where resources connect so that people help people.

And all through it we sing together. We sing with our bodies and our souls and our siblings. When we sing together we go each other. The sign of the Spirit is first expressed by singing together.

And we do all this freely, not under compulsion. Families being in singles, singles help widows, widows teach Sunday school, students serve meals, all together.

The plan for preserving our humanity in an age of machines is already written. It has been written since the gift of the Holy Spirit 2000 years ago. The church is where God makes us fully human as we come together to worship him as one body.

In an age where technology promises to make us gods, the church is the pillar and buttress of truth that stands against all Babylon. We uphold and protect a biblical vision: that of the Son of Man, fully human and fully God.

“He was manifested in [human] flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, [bodily] taken up in glory.”

The songs we sing tell the story of a body that was raised to make us human and bring us to glory. These are our songs and we sing them together here on earth until we sing them as the glorified church before the throne of heaven!