Page 124 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 23

the body of Christ with Jesus as its head, but then it but thank you also that I don't have to reach a state
is also a rela�onal unit in love.
My personal second conversion followed immedia-
tely on the first. A�er I was converted in a prayer
group in 1978, the following happened a few weeks
later: During a �me of worship, when we were all
usually completely focused on God, I let my gaze
wander through the group - and was startled. My
impression was: “All old women.” (Although there
were also some younger ones and even the odd
man).
My next thought was: “I must be in the wrong
place.” I began to compare the people present with
the friends I had previously socialized with. But it
wasn't long before I knew, deep down, that these
“old” women were now allowed to be closer to me
than all the other younger and more a�rac�ve peo-
ple. They were my new siblings. Not because they
shared my interests or had studied with me, but be-
cause, like me, they belonged to Jesus Christ.
Over the decades, I have reminded myself of this
decision again and again when I was dissa�sfied
with how church felt and when everyday church life
became tough. I belong, I want to belong, I am en-
�tled to belong.
The Word of God reveals the church to us as some-
thing that points beyond us humans, into eternity,
as an important building block of his kingdom. She
is the bride of Christ! She gets her splendor mainly
from the head, as which Jesus described himself.
The presence of God is the decisive factor! Where
two or three are gathered together, Jesus Christ is
among us (Ma�hew 18:20), that is where we are
the church.
But what about love, in concrete terms, love for
everyone in my local church and from them to me?
Another part of this second conversion is to reco-
gnize - by reversing our standards - how great every
local church is! For it represents an incomparable
collec�on of imperfect people.
Incomparable: I believe that there is no other orga-
niza�on like it, that is so open to everyone, whether things is absolutely correct. But can we dismiss the
rich or poor, from the most diverse educa�onal and
social backgrounds, healthy or sick, old or young,
that there is no similar organiza�on that would en-
dure this without immediately excluding some
(that we also do this is part of the pain).
Not perfect: what characterizes us is not perfor-
mance, but grace, that everyone is accepted as
they are. “Thank you, Lord, that I am accepted as I
am, and thank you that you don't leave me as I am,
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where I would finally deserve your acceptance.”
Isn't that inspiring, isn't that the place where I too
can be who I am?
I rejoice in being together with others, especially in
the challenge of our weakness and diversity - even
if this will always cause me difficul�es individually -
because it is something special, because it expres-
ses grace for me that everyone, including me, has
become a child of God.
The love between brothers and sisters is something
very special and hopefully can be felt in every con-
grega�on. But what about unity?
Here, too, I have learned to rethink (= conversion).
Whereas at the beginning unity meant uniformity
for me, in the sense of thinking the same, believing
the same, confessing the same, doing the same, I
now tend more towards an understanding of unity
in diversity: the church is a symphony of different
instruments that, with the help of the Holy Spirit,
manage to play a song together to the glory of God.
The divisive factor has lost its terror, the other per-
son becomes an interes�ng other that I first want
to get to know and understand. That connects, that
creates unity.
Since the second conversion always recognizes the
“ver�cal” in this “horizontal” level of vision, that we
are the body of Christ, that Jesus Christ is our head,
He helps us to overcome what divides us.
Taking off one’s own glasses of faith
Each of us wears worldview glasses, we have to ad-
mit that to ourselves at some point: the glasses of
our culture, our genera�on, our educa�on ... What
I believe is also my subjec�ve world of faith, shaped
by my family, my community and my �me. It is the
same for everyone. I have to ask myself what �nt
my glasses of faith have.
Within my congrega�on, by and large, the shades
match, so that the illusion could arise that the way
we see our faith, God, the Bible and many other
faith of all Chris�ans from other denomina�ons or
churches? Only a few sectarian groups do this offi-
cially, but the thought is there for others too. Cracks
are running through the body of Christ.
We s�ll differen�ate between those close to us,
other Chris�ans and Chris�ans with whom we have
no contact and whose world is foreign to us, and
about whom we would probably also cri�cize many
things.