“Belong: Church, Fellowship”

(Is 42:1-8; Mtt 3:13-17) JG White ~ 10:30 am, Sun, Jan 11, 2026, FBC Amherst

Imagine this: we open the doors in forty-five minutes, step outside this building, and see a break in the snow-filled clouds. A beam of light seems to shine down, and down comes what must be an alien space ship, silvery and shining. As it lands in Victoria Park, a door opens, facing us, and a couple strange beings immediately exit. They approach, and with translating technology, speak up. 

We have viewed other humans, but what are you? What is your purpose in this stone structure? What did you do inside, and why are you leaving now?

With trepidation, but some sudden bravery, how do you explain what is a Christian? Say what makes us different? Tell what is our unique behaviour? Or speak of how we compare with other religious humans, like Muslims, Hindus, Jews or Buddhists?

We belong to something, we might say, we are a group. We are together in a specific group we call the Church, a Church. We are in fellowship. And this togetherness is with God, the Creator, the one Deity of the Universe. 

You might start with all sorts of other things, of course. And we don’t expect to explain our Faith to aliens from another planet. But we need to be able to do so to other people. Some who are of other faith traditions in the world. Or those who have no faith experience. Or people who quit religion altogether at some point.

Religious scholars and social scientists these days speak of the rise of the ‘nones.’ There are more and more ‘nones’ in the Western world, and they don’t mean religious nuns, women who have taken vows or wear habits. It is the people who, on a census or a survey, answer what religion they are by saying ‘none.’ They have none. No religion. They are ‘the nones,’ and there are plenty today. 

Can we explain ourselves?

I attended a ‘Celebration of Life’ yesterday, in Debert. Truly, it was a reception, a big party, in honour of my hiking friend, Yvonne, who had rather quickly died of stomach cancer at the age of 67, eleven days ago. I have had some great outdoor adventures with her, her husband, and her sisters, through the years. My friends are not religious at all, and it was a ‘secular’ celebration. I gave a little eulogy of sorts, and helped a few others have the microphone to say a few words too. Aside from mentioning Moses and the Israelites, the only directly spiritual thing I declared was this:

The last thing I said to Yvonne was, “May you have a sprinkling of peace and joy in every day.” And I meant that. Not just for her next day in hospital, but every day into the future, forever. A bit of peace and joy, every day. 

You see what I did there? Some of those who heard me might have got my point too. It is an interesting challenge to speak faith (did I sneak faith?) into a talk like that. 

I want us to explore the practice of Christianity, this winter. I want to look together at what it is we do. Consider how we explain ourselves. I want to help you see what parts of it you do. And what parts you don’t really do. Maybe how your practice of Christianity has changed, as the years go by. And we can seek God to know what parts are needed or necessary? What counts?

I planned eight parts of being a Christian, eight weeks. You see my alliterated plan on the cover image. Today’s theme is being part of Church, being in fellowship: belonging together. Being Christian as being part of a group. A local group and an international group of humans, with God. 

We know this from the story of our scriptures. Today, back in the book of Isaiah once again, we hear things like this, about certain people being gathered together: And now the LORD says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him. A prophet of God is charged with the work of calling the scattered ethnic and religious group back together. 

The Hebrews had a religion, which did evolve and change as the centuries went by. We read this in our Bibles. Our Christian religion is a branch off of that Jewish tree, which went its own way, and has branched out with thousands of different branches. And to be together is to be in a religion. 

The catch phrase ‘spiritual but not religious’ has become very popular in my lifetime. I happen to be both, but plenty of folks around us likely claim to be spiritual people, but not religious. 

Years ago, in Windsor NS I would laugh to myself when one of our friends would claim to be spiritual but not religious. She attended worship with us almost every single Sunday, at the Baptist Church, of which she was a bapitzed member. She was a faithful part of our ‘young adult Bible Study’ group called, “Carpenter’s Hands.” She also volunteered every month with a prison ministry - a ministry - led by protestant and Catholic believers, the Kairos prison marathons. 

I say to myself, religion is as religion does. Our friend acted quite religious, even though she claimed only to be ‘spiritual.’ To respect her statement and hear the deeper meaning, I think she was simply saying that the deeper and the practical side of Faith was much more important to her than the so-called ‘religious’ and ‘traditional’ bits of being a Baptist Christian. 

We started our morning by speaking some words from Psalm 40. Later on, it also says, I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD. That phrase, ‘great congregation’ actually gets repeated in the Psalm. For people to ‘congregate’ in the name of God is a core part of Christianity, as it was and is in Judaism. And a lot of other world Faith traditions. And for some people, some of us, it is at the core of being a Christian. 

A different phrase I just heard last week, in a podcast or somesuch, was ‘religious but not spiritual.’ Wow! I had not heard that before. Religious but not spiritual. Maybe there are more people who feel that way than I realize. People who find churchgoing, for instance, as a helpful thing in their life, but they don’t feel very spiritual. Interesting. 

More common might be the Christians out there who are not churchgoers. The belonging, the gathering, the fellowship, are not part of their faith life. Some never joined in much. Many used to be in pews, but quit this. 

Another bit of the Bible we did not read this morning was from the Epistle for today, the first of four weeks from 1 Corinthians. At the beginning of this letter, we can read it is To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. This is a multi-page letter to a Church, a congregation, a little group, in a big city. It says those people we called to be saints. They were called upon to be believers, Christians, followers of Christ. And they are not just an isolated, special interest group in Corinth. They are together with all those who in every place call on the name of Jesus the Christ, everyone’s Lord. Reminds me that the Week of Prayer for Christian unity begins today, and ends next Sunday, when we will have an afternoon service next door. 

Nowadays, whether people like it or not, all who are with Jesus are together with everyone else who is with Jesus. The togetherness might just be hidden. The Church invisible is quite literally invisible!

Our Gospel reading for today sees Jesus inviting some fellows to be apprenticed to Him, to become disciples, followers. To be together with Jesus, for some time. And they are not just taking turns with Christ, one by one. They have to be together in the school of abundant life with this holy Mentor. 

To put it really simply, I say, if you are connected to Jesus, and I am connected to Jesus, and they are connected to Jesus, we are all that much closer together, and have Someone in common. God in common. The Christian version and experience of God in common.

You know what it is like to go to a big funeral, er, celebration of life, and see all sorts of people you don’t know. That’s what I did yesterday in Debert. Because my late friend, Yvonne, grew up in Stanley Section. Know where that is? How about Meaghers Grant, where she and her husband raised their kids? Then lived at Little Dyke Lake (as neighbours to Rev. John and Sharon Tonks). Yvonne had lots of family relations. She worked for Canada Post. She hiked and was athletic. She was a social butterfly. And so on. So I looked out upon a couple hundred people yesterday, most of whom I had never met. But we all had one thing in common. Dear Yvonne! So I met some wonderful strangers who also knew and loved the amazing Yvonne. We knew we had that in common.

All the more so with Jesus the Christ. In theory, at least. With millions on earth we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, and we pray that all unity may one day be restored. 

Many people who claim to be Christians connect locally and are part of Church. Many people who live as Christians do not do this. As a very churchy person, I can claim that those non-churchgoers have got something missing, and should be with us… and I can prove it, right here… but what else is Christianity? Maybe I had better look at the bigger picture. I could have some parts missing in my life; sometimes, I might be more religious than spiritual myself!

For the next couple months we will look at a lot of parts of what we Christians are: what we do. It is worth celebrating who we are, thanks to God. It is worth being able to explain, simply, how we live out our lives as people of Faith; Spirit help us. It is worth knowing our own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to Christianity; Christ purify us. It is worth respecting other disciples of Jesus who do things differently. It is well worth learning what might be the next part of Xianity we could learn and develop and add to our own lives. 

Now, let me call my finale: Humanity’s Who’s Who: the 21st Century Christian.  (Whistle)

The contemporary Christian is a diverse spiritual group that includes many millions of human beings. From humble beginnings, two millennia ago, Christians continue to influence cultures on every continent on earth. 

Individuals prefer to nest in local groups called Churches, which can reproduce in any season of the year. They feed on sacred texts, translated into any language needed, and are energized by regular gatherings called ‘worship.’

The common call of the Christian is a hymn often sung in harmony, usually accompanied by musical instruments, or a simple chant. These songs express connection with God or celebrate their teachings about life and the afterlife. 

Ritual washings, mating ceremonies, and burial practices can often be viewed by curious observers.

For more information about the Christian, contact the Canadian Council of Churches, the Vatican, or Canadian Baptist Ministries.