In the corporate worship of the body, we need one another. We throw around phrases like "we need each other" or "we need to learn from each other", but if we are not careful those become clichés rather than being actually lived out by us. We need to take more seriously these realities and try to make opportunity for intergenerational relationships, creating opportunities for relationship and learning.
True spiritual community is interdependent. It is at the very heart of NT teaching. The basic message of the "Body metaphor" (I Cor. 12:12) is that we need each other. Together, we are the body of Christ and as individual members of that body.
Obviously, Christ is distinct from the church, but as the body of Christ the church should stand as a powerful testimony to the risen Christ in today's world. This can only be true when individual believers, and groups of believers, lose their independence, learn to belong to one another and share their common life in Christ as members of the body.
The Bible teaches diversity, but maintains that the unity of the church extends beyond that diversity. (Eph. 4:3-6, 13-16). The mission of Christ was to abolish the barrier between God and His people. It is also His mission to abolish the barriers between His people. (Gal. 3:28). We don't have to cease to like a particular worship or music style in worship, but these differences no longer represent barriers to fellowship if we are going to live according to the Word.
What are we doing to cross generational barriers with the children and youth of the church? What are we doing to help children and youth have an appreciation for what has gone before? What are we doing to learn to worship with a variety of expressions because we are an intergenerational people, worshipping a multi-faceted God? mjm
