What is Fellowship?
As
we discuss the definition of what a church is called to do and be (see last
week’s article, Highest and Best Use (of
the Church?) at http://stbasilchicago.blogspot.com), allow me to break down
each of the six points I made in my last article to better define what each one
of these parts looks like. I’ll begin
with fellowship.
Because of this, fellowship in the church has two components that
fellowship in the world would never have.
First, fellowship
in the church is driven by gratitude for what Jesus Christ has done for us – and an acknowledgment that nothing we can do can pay back God for what
he has done for us in Jesus Christ.
At the core of any effort to love our neighbor is always the passage
from the gospel of St. Luke which reads:
So
likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say,
“We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10).
Secondly, Christian fellowship is worried primarily about the salvation of
our neighbor.
And that salvation can only be found in the truth that is the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason,
St. James explains in his epistle:
Brethren,
if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner
from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of
sins (James 5:19-20).
What greater thing can a friend do than save
us from eternal separation from God?
Fellowship in the church is about helping those around us get into
heaven.
So as we reflect on the content of
fellowship at St. Basil, we can ask two questions: (1) is our own motive for
fellowship one of gratitude and indebtedness to God? And (2) is the end-goal of our fellowship the
kingdom of heaven for both us and our neighbor?
May St.
Basil become a parish where these two motives are the central motives for all
of the fellowship that we have.
- Offered by Fr.
Panteleimon Dalianis
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