We Are Whose We Are
“Tell me about yourself.” How do you answer this question? Do you answer biographically? “I was born in Oak Park, raised in the Chicago suburbs, went to college in Texas…” Do you answer relationally? “I’m married and have three adult kids, I’m serving as interim pastor to a church in Rockford…” Cultures like ours tend to see our identities as primarily personal and individual, and introduce ourselves that way. But most of the world sees identity as primarily relational, and introductions reflect that.
The Bible was written in times and places that saw identity as relational first, individual second. But even within larger groups, like “Israel” or “the church,” there were subgroups that competed for members’ hearts and minds. Much of the New Testament describes the challenges of blending multiple cultures into a single local church, and multiple local churches into one Body of Christ. Jesus’ first followers were all Jewish, but it didn’t take long after the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost for Greco-Romans (gentiles) to become part of his movement. What aspects of each group’s identity would be brought forward and what would become part of the background? Early church leaders gathered and made decisions, but those decisions took time to absorb, and tensions remained.
The apostle Paul landed squarely on the primacy of Jesus in the shared identity of his followers. “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
What does “all one in Christ Jesus” and “new creation” look like in 2025, when we are amplifying personal expression, intensifying our devotion to subgroups, ratcheting up the rhetoric, while at the same time reducing the centrality of the church in our shared lives?
The answer is largely up to us. Living Paul’s way (and Jesus’ way) means that our faith shapes our personal and group identities more than the other way around. And it means that our interactions, especially those within the church, reflect the person and nature of Jesus. The early church grew in large part because they cared for one another exceptionally well. This is our calling in every time and place.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Don Wink