Will you devote yourself to the church’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers, promising to further its purity and peace? (fifth question for joining the church- in the Book of Common Worship).
Thoughts: When we join the church, we join to not divide it or complain about it. We seek to make it better- more united, more pure- better. There is no perfect church. Not even the church we are used to going to is perfect. We do not design or create the church, but we are a part of the church- when we take part in it- and we shape it as we live in it. So when we join the church we say we seek to make the church a better place.
In our day of American consumerism, we may think we can simply choose a religion, design a religion, and ignore everyone else and the church. But such thinking is an illusion. We seek the peace of God for the Church- not the peace of death. The peace of death is leave me alone kind of peace- the kind of R.I.P. found over tombstones. But the peace of God is shalom- wholeness- contentment- knowing who you are and that you have purpose. The purity is not simply purity of motive, but purity in terms of doing what is right according to God. Such purity assumes there is a God who cares about how we live and love. If God doesn't care or cannot care, then such purity is an illusion. The God of scripture is a God who cares and asks us to care and live in holy (pure) ways.
Prayer: Lord, help me to seek you through your Church. Help me to seek your purity and your peace.
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