Short talk on 'Belonging' for an all age worship service at Knaphill Methodist Church, Sunday 27th February 2011, marking Founder's Day for the Scouts and Thinking Day for the Guides. Based loosely on the material in 1 Corinthians 12 about the parts of the Body of Christ.
The theme of our service is ‘Belonging’. Do you think the yellow chick belongs?
Of course, many of you are here because you belong either to the Guide Movement or the Scout Movement. ‘Belonging’ often has two elements. The organisation gives you something – so maybe you enjoy crafts or astronomy sessions – and you give something back. You make a promise (which you will renew this morning) in return.
Here are some organisations that adults might belong to. I was very grateful recently that I belong to the RAC. My car went badly wrong when I was driving at 70 mph on the M25. The RAC van had a rapid deployment towing unit and got me and my wreck of a car back home.Again, there are the two elements to belonging. The RAC gives me something, such as rescuing me or fixing my car when it goes wrong. I give something in return – my membership fee.
Here are some more schemes to which adults might belong. In each case, the organisation gives something (such as reward points) when I give something to them (money for goods).
So we come to ‘belonging’ to the Church. Again, it is about both receiving and giving. But I want to split even that into two halves.
Firstly, there is belonging to Jesus. You’ll see I’ve put the text at the bottom of the picture by the Cross. In Jesus, God gives us his love, even to the point of dying for our sins and rising so we can have new life. We give back in return – we promise to follow Jesus.
Secondly, in church we belong to each other. We are not Christians on our own. God is making us into a new family, a new community. We show that new family by giving to each other, and by receiving from one another. There are many people in this church who can tell you how important it has been to be part of this, such as when we support each other through bad times.