Who Do You Belong To, Part One

Who do you belong to?

What are you to whomever owns you?

How do you know how to think, live, act for your owner?

Strange questions? Well, you know, it's like me. Your king, King Julien! (Sorry, my inner lemur comes out occasionally.)

Let us assume you know what the first question means and you're a Christian sooo, the answer is you belong to Jesus. Good. You're 1 for 1, batting a 1,000.

Question Deux: You are "saved." Well, that's a big Duh, eh Cubby? And by being saved you are a child of God, brother of Jesus. And, you are not going to Hell when Jesus whistles everyone out of the pool at the end of time. So you got that going for you. Ehhhhhh! You are on a roll! Oh, and you're a member of God's Church, at least of "this" flavor (denomination). Mysteriously, though no one may call you this, according to Scripture you are a disciple of Christ. Must be something obsolete or encompassed into being a member. Don't sweat it, Cubby; no points off for not knowing about discipleship.

Question Three (You're going for the Prize Pack: a bottle of Biblical wine (Grape Juice from Welch's), a gift certificate for $5 good at any McDonald's in Alaska, Hawaii or Winnipeg, Manitoba, and, drum roll please, two free nights at any Motel 6 along the

Monongahela River, not including Pittsburgh & Allegheny County. Wow! What a stunning prize pack! Good Luck!)

Let me take a crack at it for you.

You belong to a congregation of a denomination or if it's a non-denominational congregation, it is all by its lonesome and it has what's called "congregational polity," meaning they can run their own show. And They Do. And, you Cubby, you're a member. Well, assuming, that is, you sign the - excuse me, gotta sneeze - HereticalBlasphemousBullShitofSatan - "membership covenant" that basically says: (depending on your denomination or congregation - let's just abbreviate this as Your mileage may vary or YMMV. ) a) You don't know squat about our congregation or God or Jesus or any other stuff like the Bible or the Illuminati writings of a certain mega church pastor, so b) You need to sign this which says, in short, you will in no way question or challenge the leadership (read pastor & family but YMMV) of this congregation. Congratulations, L'chaiim!

Sadly, the above is your Base Line Thinking and here's what it get's you. It's how you live.

You are pro-Israel, pro-life, generally Republican (and if not, you learn quicker than you can say, "Bob's your uncle," to keep your political opinions to yourself and smile and nod a lot. YMMV.

This is sort of reversed for liberal main line denominations and non-denominationals who are "into" social justice, seeking God (what? they can't find Him?) and creating community. You root for the Palestinians, you volunteer or give money to Planned Parenthood and counsel 8th graders on birth control that does not focus on abstaining. (Wink, wink) Oh yeah, and you really aren't sure if you believe in God or Jesus but it helps to say you go to church if you're climbing the corporate ladder.

You go to church on Sundays OR if your congregation is "progressive" maybe they have Saturday evening worship services and you go then so you can sleep in Sunday morning, read the Sunday New York Times in bed with your missus or significant other or...you know, other things (Wink, wink). That is pretty cool. No getting up on Sunday mornings.

You put some money in the collection plate. If you're familiar with the tithe (giving 10% of your gross, well, okay, your net income) you put your tithe in. If you want the tax deduction at the end of the year, you write a check. The congregation's treasurer then sends you a statement of what you've given over the tax year and you can write it off on your taxes. That's pretty cool, too.

If your congregation has communion, whether weekly, monthly or quarterly, you take communion.

Finally, somewhere along the line, after you declared that you believed in God and you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior it should have been impressed upon you that you were to try to be, try to have or behave in a fairly morally upright manner with character to match.

Bada-BING! You're done!

Oh, maybe if a congregation has a small group ministry you attend (you may be forced to attend but YMMV). Maybe, if you're really into the congregation and what it represents you may volunteer for odd jobs that need to be done around the building (mow the grass being the biggie, assuming lawn care has not been contracted) or you may volunteer to be a chaperon for mixed gender field trips (maybe a youth retreat at a city three hours away over the Christmas holiday) or boys week at church camp.

Then, comes Monday. Just another manic Monday.

It's back to work, ain't it, Cubby?.

Back to real life.

For the most part (and I have no idea when this began) most of us live a highly compartmentalized life.

If you google "compartmentalized life" you're gonna get a lot of business sites promoting compartmentalization as a way to be a winner in business and life. And they pooh-pooh the psychological concept that compartmentalization is a defense mechanism and nothing more, "connoting it as" bad.

Here, take a piece of paper and draw a big box with little boxes inside it. Label the big box "you." Label the small boxes: Religion or Church, Work, Kids, Wife, Family Life, Sports and whatever BUT you must leave Religion Or Church as the first box. Label the boxes more appropriately if you need to, just don't change the first box.

How this works is this: You've "done" church, now to the next box, maybe School. You have to deal with it. Then so on and so forth until you're back at Religion or Church. Pretty superficial, ain't it Cubby?

And what's the point here? Remember the question:

How do you know how to think, live, act for your owner?

The way you think is the way you live, the way you act.

Proverbs 4:23 says:

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

In Scripture you will find that your heart means mind a lot of times.

I found the following in a frame on an office wall on one of my computer jobs:

As we Think so we Speak

As we Speak so we Are

As we Are so we Act

As we Act so we Reflect our True Nature

Luke 6:45 & Mathew 12:34 both confirm whoever wrote the motivational wall hanging.

Here's Jesus in Matthew 12:33-35:

Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of evil treasure what is evil...

Finally, this from James Baldwin:

The making of an American begins at the point where he himself rejects all other ties, any other history, and himself adopts the vesture of his adopted land.

- James Baldwin

Notes of a Native Son, 1955

In the above quote replace American with the mysterious words disciple of Christ and see what it means. You see, what you really have done by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior is rejected ties and history of America and you take on the clothing of a disciple of Christ. By taking on the vesture (clothing) of your adopted land, the Kingdom of God, vesture is metaphorical for way of thought. Do you see the "circularity" of it all? You quit thinking, ergo you quit acting like an American and take up the way of Your Lord, Jesus Christ's thinking and acting now as a disciple of Christ.

James Baldwin was an American by birth, however because he was both black and gay in a time where you could get summarily lynched for being either one, he spent a good part of his life as an ex-pat in Paris. Consider how many ties, how much history he had to reject and the "clothes" (vesture) he had to wear to be a "true American" in his day.

So...

What you may find puzzling or disturbing or both is that before you became a member of a congregation by accepting Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you find your life really hasn't changed that much because you are not thinking like a disciple of Christ. But now, instead of sleeping in on Sunday morning's you go to church.

You did not just join the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, Cubby.

Truly take a crack at answering these questions for yourself:

Who do you belong to?

What are you to whomever owns you?

How do you know how to think, live, act for your owner?

More in Who Do You Belong To in Part Deux, same Bat Time, same Bat Channel.

May the peace of Christ be with you,

†Scott, V.D.M ev