在電影“瞬息全宇宙”（Everything Everywhere All at Once）中，男女主角（楊紫瓊和關繼威）代表了離鄉背井的華人面對生計的艱難（開洗衣店辛苦的工作，還被國稅局懷疑逃漏稅），婚姻經過歲月的消磨已經貌合神離，甚至面臨離婚的可能。同時，家庭中上有生重病、不能自主的父親要照顧，下要面對女兒有同性戀傾向的震憾。同樣身為海外華人的我們，雖然每個人的背景和特質不同，也常常發現多多少少都面對類似的生活困境，對電影中的故事應該會感同身受。其實這又何嘗不是普世人⸺不管是海外或本鄉的華人、或是哪一個族群的人⸺共同的經歷呢？人生都是在面對許多內在外在不同的困境；有時候這些困境壓得我們喘不過氣來；有時候我們的生活好像在搭過山車（雲霄飛車）似地起起伏伏。外在的困境以外，人生還會遭遇內在的困境⸺在平順甚至成功後心靈卻仍然在孤寂、憂懼之中。
As our church anniversary approached, I found myself reflecting on our church against the backdrop of the pretty divided world that we live in. One word kept coming to mind and weighing heavily on my heart: Unity.
We regularly pray for unity. It shapes how we do ministry and is deeply embedded in our church’s culture. We often say that unity is not uniformity, but there is unity in diversity. But this reflection also made me wonder, “Do I really know what unity is?”
There’s a psychological phenomenon called “semantic satiation”. It’s when a word is repeated so often that it temporarily loses its meaning and starts to sound strange. This happens because our brains become desensitized to the word through repetition. Am I doing that now? Unity. Unity. Unity. All in all, that’s 8 times I’ve said this word already. It feels a little strange. But I would also ask, “Could this happen to us as a church?” Could our talk of unity become so familiar that, for a moment, we forget what it truly means and how it should be lived out?
We are a diverse church even if that diversity may not always be so obvious to others. We are multilingual, multi-congregational, multicultural, and multi-generational. But what does it mean for us to have unity in our diversity? What holds us together in a way that reflects the unity that God calls us to as His church? As we celebrate and exercise our freedom in our diversity, what actually unites us?
The title of this article is You Can’t Spell Unity Without U n’ I. You and I. We’re going to unpack what that means. And we’re going to see three things in our passage. The starting point for unity. The substance of unity. And the steps to unity.
The starting point for unity is our shared experience of the gospel (v. 1)
There’s a central command at the heart of this passage. “Complete my joy,” which is explained as being of the same mind. Being united. But that is preceded by verse 1, “…if there is any [of these things].” But Paul writes presupposing these things are already true.
A more functional translation would be “Since there is encouragement in Christ, since there is comfort from love from God, since there is participation in the Spirit, since there is affection and sympathy for me as I have for you, complete my joy.”
And so before Paul instructs the church in Philippi to be united, he begins with their shared experience of these things. The starting point for unity is our shared experience of the gospel. He appeals to their common experience of the gospel. Encouragement in Christ. Comfort from love, presumably from God the Father. And participation in the Spirit. Together we have the triune God. In the gospel, you have all experienced these things from Him. And He adds a fourth thing that they have experienced. Affection and sympathy, presumably towards Him and Him towards them.
And so the message is this: Be to each other what God has been to each of you. Our shared experience of the gospel is the best starting point for unity because it equalizes us, it connects us together, and it encourages us to be to each other what God in Christ has been to each of us.
I like what J. Alec Motyer says,
[U]nity…belongs to the very essence of Christian life, for it is the way in which Christians display outwardly what the gospel is and means to them. Unity is the gospel’s hallmark; it says to all who examine it, ‘This life is worthy of the gospel.’ (The Message of Philippians, 102)
The starting point for unity is our shared experience of the gospel. But what exactly is unity?
The substance of unity is our shared mindset in Christ (v. 2)
Unity is being of the same mind. Mindset is maybe a better word. Unity is not having the same opinions about everything. That would be uniformity. Unity is not about always agreeing without exception and complete agreement. That would be unanimity. But unity is about having the same mindset – one that is shaped by the gospel, grounded in love, and focused on the same mission. It’s about being aligned in purpose, even when we differ in perspective, allowing our shared faith and commitment to Christ to guide us forward together. And in verse 5, Paul qualifies this mindset as being a mindset in the Lord. So what is unity not then?
Unity is not having a common history.
Unity is not sharing a building.
Unity is not having a joint service that 2 out of 3 congregations attend.
Unity is not having the same ethnic heritage.
Unity is not speaking the same language.
All of these things are good and they help build up our church, but I don’t believe this is what Paul is talking about when he calls us to have the same mindset in the Lord. He’s not focused on these kinds of commonalities.
Because let me tell you, even in my own home, we don’t have “unity” in the words we use every day. I’m Taiwanese American, and my wife is Fuzhounese. She speaks Mandarin and I “speak” Mandarin. But, when we raise our kids together, is it going to be gōngkè or zuòyè for the word “homework”? Is it lèsè or lājī for the word “trash”? Fānqié or xīhóngshì for “tomato”? She’s also lived in New York. I’m from Boston. Is it the T or is the subway? I say “wicked.” She doesn’t.
Even in the context of our family, we don’t always use the same words. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t united. There’s a deeper unity that comes from having the same mindset about what really matters. There is unity in our mindset that we hope for our sons to know Mandarin and to connect with their heritage specifically through language. It’s this same mindset, shared conviction, and common priority that allows us to continue forward together even as we might use different terms. I have to learn to be okay with my son saying lājī instead of lèsè. He’s still young, so there’s still hope for gōngkè.
So, unity as a mindset in the Lord is about identifying the shared convictions that are most primary to the gospel and then allowing those convictions to help us navigate our competing values. Shared convictions. Competing values. Let me explain.
In our church, some prefer traditional hymns, while others prefer contemporary praise. These are competing values that show up when it comes to decisions about how we worship together. But if we share the same mindset in the Lord, the same conviction that worship is ultimately about glorifying God, we can appreciate different approaches, even if they aren’t our personal preference, because we all believe it is about the heart of worship, not the style.
When I was serving at my former church, there was a disagreement among our leaders over whether to cover the retreat cost for the spouse of a youth counselor. So not the actual volunteer, but their spouse. One side said, “We should cover the spouse. We’re taking away the youth counselor from their family for that weekend. They just got married. The least we can do is bring the spouse along.” The other side said, “No. If we’re paying, they’re serving.” Now, fortunately, it wasn’t a big disagreement. We resolved it within a few minutes and no one left the church. But, it reflected a difference in values, right? One side valued pastoral care and appreciation more, wanting to support the counselor and show that the church cares about the family needs of its volunteers through this specific way. Another side valued service and ministry responsibility more.
Here’s the most important thing. Don’t miss this. Both sides valued all these things. They just ranked them differently, which led to this disagreement. But both sides also shared the same conviction and mindset of being good stewards of God’s resources and they believed that for each other. They did not say “Our way is good stewardship of money and your way isn’t.” They believed “We’re both being good stewards of money. We just have a different approach because of our competing values.” But that allowed them to navigate their differences, come to a resolution, and move forward in unity, even though they had differing perspectives.
But you might be thinking, “Pastor Jeff, competing values still compete. We still need to make a decision. What happens when there is no middle ground? How do we actually move forward in unity when we have to choose one option over the other? How does having the same mindset actually help us when our option isn’t chosen?” Paul unpacks what this mindset means in verses 3-4 and verses 5-11.
The steps to unity are our shared concerns for one another (vv. 3-4)
Paul continues on.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Unity is natural to the gospel, but it does not come naturally to us. You know what does come naturally? Selfish ambition. Conceit. Looking at our own interests, rather than the interests of others. The opposite of the mind of Christ.
Paul instead highlights humility. Humility creates unity. There is the saying, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” When Paul says to count others more significant than yourselves, he’s not saying to think, “They’re so much better than me,” but he’s saying to look to their concerns, their needs, their interests, and their values.
When we grumble and dispute, we hinder our ability to advance the gospel. Fast forward to 2:14-15.
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
When Paul talks about grumbling and disputing, who in the Bible does that remind you of? The Israelites! Grumbling and disputing in the wilderness. Paul says, “complete my joy by being of the same mind and furthering the gospel, but to do that you need to get your act together, stop the grumbling and disputing, and come to a common mindset about life together in Christ and show that same love for one another.” Because the truth is that we can be together and still be divided.
Let me show you what I mean. I brought with me a piece of a car windshield. And this windshield has some spider cracks in the glass. They’re small, but maybe you can still see them. The cracks compromise the integrity of the whole windshield even though it’s all still together. And sometimes there is more disunity and more disagreement (represented by this hammer) that causes these cracks to grow and spread. To the point where you can’t see clearly through the windshield anymore.
In the same way, the more divided the church becomes, the harder it is for people to see Jesus clearly through us. And also, in the same way, it’s a sobering reality when, like a spider crack, we can be together and still be divided. And eventually that will give way. It will be easier to demolish in days what took decades to build.
So what do we need? A mindset that is ours in Christ Jesus, who perfectly models what it means to look to the interests of others.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
In a world where it is all about my right – my right to independence, my right to my body, my right to comfort, my right to privacy, my right to retaliate, my right to my need—Jesus shows us a mindset and a way where he gives up his right to serve us, putting our needs above His own. And he calls us to have that same mindset for each other. To live that same way.
The steps to unity are our shared concerns for each other. There is the saying, “Love begins when someone else’s needs are more important than my own.” Jesus perfectly demonstrates this for us and he calls us to be united by having the same mindset. We do this easily for our children, putting their needs above our own. But God is calling us to do it not for our children, but for those whom we call brother and sister in Christ.
What does it mean for a multilingual, multi-congregational, multicultural, and multi-generational church like ours? Could we be united in a shared mindset in Christ that seeks the interests of other congregations and generations?
Do you know that City Light sometimes get overlooked because they meet in Boston and not in Lexington? Do you know that CM is a fairly large congregation? And because of its size, it can be challenging to meet the many diverse needs that smaller congregations might not face as intensely. Do you know that Cross Bridge doesn’t benefit from the same economies of scale and struggles with having enough human resources to meet its own needs while also supporting other larger churchwide ministries? Do you know that the youth are still meeting in the same closets that I met in when I was a youth 20 years ago? And they still keep getting kicked around to make room for the rest of us. And now I’m part of the problem. Do you know that children’s ministry coworkers go months without worshipping upstairs? And some of them would love for the program to have a one month break in July for their coworkers.
The steps to unity are our shared concerns for one another. What if we looked not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others? How powerful would it be if CB and CM said “We might need our space, but we will give up our right to that space so the youth can have it.” How amazing would it be if CB and CM said “We’re going to give Mustard Seed coworkers a break for one month. And we’re going to invite those young kids into our worship services and for just four Sundays, our parents will figure out how to worship with their kids.” We may not always find an easy solution, but being aligned in mindset and purpose and fighting for each other is far better than fighting with each other.
Earlier this year, I went over this with the leaders in Cross Bridge. I call it the ABCs of Leadership in a Chinese Heritage Church (see What is a Chinese Heritage Church?).
Actually, we might even call it the ABCs of Leadership for ABCs (American-born Chinese) in a Chinese Heritage Church, since I was speaking to CB leaders. But, I believe, in light of Philippians 2:1-4, that this might be helpful not just for CB leaders, but also for all of us as we demonstrate our shared concerns for one another.
A stands for Advocate. Speaking up and advocating for each other’s needs, whether that is a particular congregation, generation, demographic, person, etc. B stands for Bridge. Connecting with others across generational and cultural gaps and figuring out how to bridge those gaps. Part of it is identifying both the shared convictions and the competing values, but then finding a way forward that honors those different values. C stands for Comprehend. Understanding the people and what the needs and contexts are, especially those shared convictions and competing values.
If we can bridge and comprehend, but don’t advocate, there’s no change. Nothing will happen because no one will say anything. If we can advocate and comprehend, but don’t bridge, there’s no buy-in. There may be change, but at the cost of relationships. If we can advocate and bridge, but don’t comprehend, there’s no purpose. We suggest solutions that don’t make sense. We risk taking the church in a different direction or bringing about unforeseen consequences, because we don’t really understand the people, the needs, or the context. So we need to be able to advocate, bridge, and comprehend together.
And the foundation that undergirds this entire framework is “trust.” Trust in God and trust in each other as we do these ABCs.
Without trust, advocacy will feel self-serving. “You’re just bringing this up to benefit yourself.” Without trust, bridging will feel fragile. “I don’t really know you and you don’t really know me.” Without trust, comprehending will feel shallow. “You don’t actually understand my needs.”
The three points from Phillippians 2:1-4 are this.
The starting point for unity is our shared experience of the gospel (v. 1)
The substance of unity is our shared mindset in Christ (v. 2)
The steps to unity is our shared concerns for one another (vv. 3-4)
And if every member and leader embodied all three, what a powerful picture of church unity in our diversity that would be. Because remember, you can’t spell unity without U n’ I.
About the author: Jeff is the pastor of the Cross Bridge Ministry – an English ministry at CBCGB. This sermon was originally delivered as the sermon during the Church’s joint 55th Anniversary Service and has been edited for clarity, grammar, and readability in print.
在2023年的美國奧斯卡金像奬頒獎典禮中，一部反映華人移民的影片“瞬息全宇宙”（Everything Everywhere All at Once）囊括了七項大獎。除了大家都熟悉的女星楊紫瓊（Michelle Yeoh）榮獲最佳女主角之外，一位華人導演和另一位華人男演員也得到了最佳導演和最佳男配角獎。這部電影除了反映華人移民在異鄉生活的困難和掙扎，引起我們的同感和同情之外，全片還採用了奇特的時空背景⸺元宇宙（MetaVerse），或多重宇宙(Multiverse)的概念，並帶來特殊的戲劇效果。
元宇宙的觀念也被使用於文學和藝術的表達中。最早使用這個名詞的是美國作家尼爾·斯蒂芬森（Neal Town Stephenson），他在1992 年出版的科幻小说《雪崩》（Snow Crash）中描述一個脱離於物理世界，却始终在線的平行數字世界中，人们能够在其中以虚擬人物角色（avatar）自由地生活。這樣的概念，後來被應用於上述的威漫電影中。“平行宇宙”其實在更早的時代已被一些文學著作採用，例如天主教的文學大師托爾金（J. R. R. Tolkien）算是20世紀使用所謂“平行世界”或“平行宇宙”的先驅。他的經典名著《魔戒》（The Lord of The Rings）就是代表，只是他的著作中並沒有現實世界和平行世界之間的交流。還有基督教文學大師魯易士（C. S. Lewis）所寫的著名童話《納尼亞春秋》（The Chronicles of Narnia）全集和J. K. Rowling的《哈利波特》（Harry Porter）。但是這只是人本於想像而作為文學或藝術表達而已，題材不同作品應用的方式不完全相同。有些創作，像《雪崩》，強調的是一個物質世界和一個“虛幻”的平行世界；有些創作卻發展出無數個平行宇宙。有些強調的是同樣的人物或生命經過特殊的管道在不同的宇宙或世界中來來去去，有的創作強調的是在無數的平行宇宙或世界中都有同一個“我”，例如電影“瞬息全宇宙”中的楊紫瓊或關繼威，只是每一個“我”在不同的宇宙會有不同的生命狀態和思維；甚至當人穿越時空進入到不同的宇宙，並遇到那個宇宙中的自己而產生互動時，他們會對彼此帶來影響。
Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Driving around, you may have noticed the signs on your neighbor’s front lawn that say: “In this house, we believe black lives matter, women’s rights are human rights, no human is illegal, science is real, love is love, kindness is everything.” It has been described as “the secular creed.” A creed is something that is a statement or confession of belief. There is a book written about this very sign called for its namesake titled, “The Secular Creed” and it talks about how this sign is post-Christian in nature. Post-Christian in this sense is that the ideas proclaimed are only possible because they stand on a Christian intellectual heritage. It does not mean the ideas are Christian themselves but are only able to be held because the intellectual heritage of Christianity paved the way.
What leads us to discouragement, fear, and despair?
How do you feel about the secular creed and the progressive post-Christian ideologies our culture promotes? It is easy for many of us to become discouraged because we feel as though we as Christians have lost the culture war and the culture is drifting further and further into liberal ideologies like the ideas espoused in the secular creed. I know parents of youth in particular feel uneasy about the environment the youth are growing up in.
This brings me to the main point of this article: when we are prone to discouragement, fear, and despair because of the brokenness of this world, we must hold fast to Jesus as our steadfast anchor of the soul.
I’m not sure what you fear or what might lead you to discouragement. For Abraham in Hebrews 6:13-20, he was waiting years upon years for the promises of God to be realized for him. For us, maybe it is the secular environment we find ourselves in, or maybe it’s personal doubts and struggles, or problems in our family. Regardless of what it is, these Bible verses are urging us to anchor ourselves to Jesus.
So, what do you fear? What brings you discouragement, or leads you to doubt the promises of God? Whatever comes to mind, remember that as we go on.
Abraham and the Promise of God
Abraham is given as an example throughout the book of Hebrews and the Old Testament as a faithful recipient of God’s promises and in many cases one to imitate. “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23)” But we also know that Abraham’s life was not all blessing and no trial and neither was he faithful perfect in all times. Abraham waited 25 years from the time God promised him offspring and land until Isaac was born and that was after Abraham was already an old man. Further, God called Abraham to offer Isaac as an offering – to sacrifice his son for whom he had waited so long. Abraham did not waver in his faith, thinking God would raise Isaac from the dead.
In verse 13, it says that God swore to Abraham based upon God’s self. This points us to something unique about the ancient Near Eastern history that Abraham was a part of. Whenever one person swore an oath or made a covenant with another person, the penalty for violating that oath was death. These verses in Hebrews not only focus on God’s promises to Abraham of offspring with the direct quotation from Genesis 22, but also encompass all of the promises God made to Abraham including the covenant ceremony in Genesis 15.
In Genesis 15, we see God’s covenant ceremony with Abraham. Starting in Genesis 15:9, God tells Abraham to take some animals and cut them in half. This was the normal covenant ceremony, as both parties would cut the animals in half, let their blood flow through the middle, and each party would walk between the sliced animals to illustrate very vividly that they would become like the animals if either part should violate the covenant. When God swore to Abraham, he swore by himself – by his very life.
What is incredible about Genesis 15, is that God is the only one who passes through the sliced animals. God made an oath not only to fulfill his side of the covenant but also Abraham’s. You can think of tension in the Old Testament narrative because we see very quickly that Abraham does not live up to his end of the covenant. By the covenant ritual, God should die. But how can God die? We now know, at that moment the Lord God placed the death penalty upon his Son Jesus Christ. We see the gospel in the atonement central to the message of Scripture all throughout, and especially here with Abraham.
What does all of this stuff about Abraham have to do with us? As I teach youth, I am always thinking of the question, “ok so what?” and in this passage, there is a very clear connection between God’s promises to Abraham and us. Look again at verse 17 where God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise. Who are the heirs of the promise? The promises to Abraham were not only for the Jews – his direct descendants, but God’s promises to Abraham have global significance in that all who walk in the faith of Abraham are descendants of Abraham (Galatians 3:7). That means if you are here today and your faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are who verse 17 says is “the heirs of the promise.”
The author tells us in the second part of verse 18 what the purpose is of God’s showing more convincingly his promises to the heirs of the promise. The second part of verse 18 says that “we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.” What is that hope? Verse 19-20 “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”
How do we anchor ourselves on Jesus?
The author of Hebrews is so clever as he describes Jesus as being an anchor. I’m not a sailor, but I know anchors go down deep into the ocean to anchor a ship in its place. What’s great about this analogy is that our anchor is not one that goes down deep, but goes up deep into heaven, into the holies of holies in the Priestly order sitting next to the right hand of God. There’s a lot more that can be said about that, but the point is that Jesus is the anchor of our souls and a source of hope.
If our household had a creed posted, what would it say? Would it expose any idols? What would a creed look like to show that Jesus is the anchor of our families? Would our families’ creed reveal that we have anchored ourselves in Jesus or something else?
I am the youth minister for our church and so I have a special duty to both the youth and their families, so as I seek to apply this text, I want to focus on how we can apply it within our families.
When I think about Jesus being the anchor of our families, two passages come to mind:
Joshua 24:15 – And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (ESV)
Joshua makes a statement that this household will serve the Lord. Deuteronomy gives us a picture of what serving the Lord looks like:
Deuteronomy 6:6–9 – And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (ESV)
In the world of youth ministry, all the experts are talking about how we can reach the next generation of youth so that they would live for Christ, and they would have Jesus as the anchor of their souls. So much of what the experts are focusing on right now is the importance of the family in reaching the next generation. As a youth pastor, I get maybe 2-4 hours a week with your students; you get much more. As a youth pastor, your kids come under my leadership when they’re around 11 or 12. They come under your leadership when they are conceived. Even in the passages we just read in the Bible emphasize that parents are the primary disciples of their kids. How are we going to reach the next generation? The church is not on the frontlines of that battlefield alone, but the family is there as well. It’s not even the church that carries the first responsibility, it’s the family. In the Scriptures, the primary emphasis is on fathers and parents to pass the faith along, but as grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins, and older siblings we can do this too.
So how can we anchor our families in Jesus and thus reach the next generation? The heavy news is this burden is heavy, but the good news is that being faithful is not that hard and each of us can do it.
Come to church
It may seem so simple, but yet this is so important for many reasons. God did not create us to do the Christian walk in isolation, but in community with others. We can worship God on our own, but so much emphasis on Scripture is coming together as his corporate people to worship him. When we come to church we are encouraged and we hear the Word of God.
Coming to church every Sunday is not always easy. Life can be really busy at times, and there are some legitimate reasons to miss Sunday worship or to tune into the livestream. For the vast majority of us, for the vast majority of the time, we should be physically present at church for corporate worship. This shows that we value what God values. This shows that during the busyness of life, we will not allow it to take over the most important things. Thus, passing that value down to the younger ones in our family.
If we confess this as a creed, it would be “In this house, we will worship the Lord together with the church.”
Anchor your soul in Jesus, and live as salt and light before your family
Anchoring our souls to Jesus also has profound personal significance and this is the most clear application of the passage. We first must trust in Jesus, repent of our sins, and follow him. We must find joy in the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. We must not only know about Jesus, but we must know Jesus and trust him personally. Then, we can be the salt and light of our families and world.
It is a powerful instrument in God’s hand for children to grow up seeing their parents pray, read the Bible, and commune with God. It is a powerful tool in God’s hand to lead them to Jesus when we can admit our shortcomings to our kids. This can be so hard. When we get impatient with our children and lash out in anger, can we admit our wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness? It’s easier to blame our children or the circumstances, but the reality of the gospel is that all of us are sinners. Can we live out a genuine gospel lifestyle in our homes that is willing to admit when we are wrong and ask for forgiveness? The gospel is not that we must perfectly obey God’s commands, the gospel is that we are sinners and on our own can never obey God’s commands. But the good news is that Jesus died for our sins. That truth frees us to admit when we are wrong, not only to God, but also to others. This is how we can be salt and light to our families.
Do worship and spiritual formation at home
Deuteronomy 6 which we read just a little bit ago talks about how we ought to teach our children about the law of God in everyday life – when we sit in our homes, wake up, and walk about our day. Do you talk to your children about the hope you have in Jesus as the anchor of your soul? Do you teach them the Word of God? Do you read Scripture together, pray together, or worship together at home? If the only time we look at God’s Word or worship him is at church, then it raises the question of whether or not we are truly following him or just putting on a face. If Jesus is the anchor of our souls, if he is the hope we proclaim, then our lives should overflow with Jesus.
Doing worship and spiritual formation at home is not super complicated and is something you can start small today. If you’re starting from nothing, pray together before a meal or before bed. Pick up the Bible and read a few verses in the evening and sing worship songs together. It doesn’t need to be every day, but a couple of times a week.
Another thing we can particularly do for our children and grandchildren is to catechize them. Catechesis is an ancient spiritual discipline that the church has practiced since almost the beginning. It might involve memorizing certain creeds like the 10 commandments or the Lord’s prayer. My son just turned 3, and we have already begun catechizing him. We will ask him, “What is life all about?” and he will reply “Jesus on the cross.” We are very busy, and so we will frequently ask him these questions while we’re driving in the car. This is what Deuteronomy means when it says to teach these things to our children when we go down and come up. Use the time intentionally.
As I share all of these things, the older your children are the more difficult it will be to put these things into practice. Start when your children are 1, not when they are 11 or even 5. Remember, we will never be perfect, but let our lives reflect the One who is perfect, Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Here’s my plea for you: First, make Jesus the anchor of your soul, and second, live your life in a way that reflects the truth that Jesus is the anchor of your soul, and lead others, first and foremost your own family to see this beautiful truth.
I want us to close by remembering what we thought of at the beginning, when I asked what it is that you fear. Bring this to Jesus and find hope in him in the midst of that uncertainty. Let me close by reciting the important truth that Jesus is our hope as we see from the New City Catechism question 1:
What is our only hope in life and death? That we are not our own but belong, body and soul, both in life and death, to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ.
