Me, My, Mine?
I hear a lot of proclamations within Christianity of, “I want to make my faith my own.” Honestly, I do recoil a little when I hear this, though I trust in the Lord that He sanctifies as He saves. However this proclamation does imply an individuality that can be a distraction from the community inherent in knowing by faith we join an assembly that is the body of Christ.
As Dr. Stephen D. Lowe and Dr. Mary E. Lowe together write in chapter nine of Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age, “the syn connection we have with Christ supplies all of the spiritual nutrients needed for proper growth, and indeed, gives life that marks possible our growth.”[1] This immediately calls to mind John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (English Standard Version)
This verse asserts that we are related and relatable to Christ, but separate and dependent upon his holiness to bear fruit. As well, in the reference, a vine is never constituted by one branch. That would not make for much fruit nor wine. Rather community is represented by Christ asserting that he is the body and by definition a healthy vine consists of a plural of branches. As we are individual believers, we are but one branch thus we cannot vainly attribute to ourselves greater significance within this ecological motif than a contributory, dependent piece.
Relatedly, the apostle Paul builds upon this example in Romans 11 when addressing gentiles as branches grafted into the community of faith. “And you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.” (Rom. 11:17-18)
Paul’s counsel to remember where our support comes from, that is Christ where our hope comes from, is helpful as well that it tells us not to be arrogant. As Paul was making this overture in a disembodied medium of the letter, certainly it applies today to how we should understand grafting and humility in a disembodied context that still promotes community over the individual. We are meant to grow in Christ among other believers, and we are shown that community can be encouraged, exhorted, and promoted through a disembodied context. Even in a digital context today, it is not isolation that fosters growth, but acknowledgement of the example of a branch within a vine, truly the shared identity in Christ, that unifies us rather than separates us.
[1] Stephen D. Lowe Ph.D and Mary E. Lowe Ph.D., Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2018), 148.