This past week I started a new teaching series within the high school ministry at Calvary Community Church called “Your Series.” The basic premise is that, as Westerners (or more specifically as Americans steeped in consumerism), “I” is the proverbial center of our universe.

How familiar are these terms?

  • personal testimony
  • personal bible study
  • personal opinion of what this verse means
  • personal quiet time with God
  • personal relationship with God

We spend our entire lives asking, “how will this product, this idea, this thing, this blog, this person benefit…me.” It’s no wonder that we approach the Bible the same way. The magnificent and awe-inspiring story of a God who speaks everything into existence, who was creative enough to create glow worms and gorillas, and who invites us into a dynamic relationship where we are called to participate in the restoration of all things…drum roll please…has been reduced to a personal quiet time that is enhanced by books that teach us 7 Steps to a Better You.

So, we read Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 6:19 and miss the communal nature of what it means to collectively be the body of Christ and the temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells.  The “your” is not referring to an individual…it is not suggesting each reader is their own temple…there’s is not one body among a multitude of bodies…The metaphor is not “bodies of Christ.” There is only one Body.

Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that whatever mistake or brokeness that an individual experiences actually spreads throughout and affects the whole body of Christ.

I have been thinking about this recently in regards to social networking. The other day, a phishing virus spread like an unstoppable rebel force throughout Twitter, stealing passwords and creating havoc as it ran amuk. What started with one individual spread throughout and affected much of the Twittersphere, if at the very least being a widespread topic of conversation. On the other hand, I saw people spread useful information that others could use to stave off the phishing virus attack. In both instances, it was people who made decisions that affected others that enabled transformation to happen…for some it was a bad transformation once they got hacked…for others, good as they avoided the hack.

There is something about social networking that only works when individuals are willing to contribute to something that is bigger than themselves…whether negative or positive.

For those who are part of the church: 

  1. How can this concept help us understand what it means to be embedded within a greater community?
  2. How can we understand that this thing we call church only works when we as individuals become swept up in something that is bigger than just ourselves?
  3. How can the communal nature of social networking teach us to have better relationships?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts…

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