Fellowship

by The Rev. Kate Atkinson

We talk about fellowship a lot at St. Paul’s – often including it in a list of three “F”s that describe a social event: Fun, Food and Fellowship. But Christian fellowship means much more than enjoying one another’s company at coffee hour, or a foyer group, or even our monthly “Fellowship Potluck.”

In his commentary on the Letters of John, the theologian, John Stott, describes what he calls “the divine order” – angelia (message), koinōnia (fellowship), and chara (joy) – highlighting the middle stage of that progression as vital to our Christian life.

(John R.W. Stott, The Letters of John, Pg. 71 © 1996 Inter-Varsity Press, Leicester, England)  

The apostle John wrote to the first century believers about the importance of living in fellowship with God and with one another, specifically so that we can live without sin, and ultimately so that “our joy may be complete.” (1 John 1:4; 2:1)

In order to do that, John writes, we have to take to heart the message that “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)  Light represents God’s glory and splendor – the divine radiance we imagine permeating all of heaven. Light also represents purity and truth – divine qualities manifested in Jesus. And God’s light is offered to us, the children of God, as a source of power, salvation, and discernment.

Fellowship is the act of gathering with other Christians and sharing our common awareness of God’s light. It doesn’t necessarily require us to have deep, theological discussions every time we get together (although sometimes that does happen), but it does mean striving for purity and truth in what we say to one another and in our actions.  It also means acknowledging that we are stronger, safer, and wiser because of God’s presence with us.

That could mean talking about the times we’ve fallen short of what we know God expects of us; it could include occasions when we’ve struggled with Jesus’ teachings and ended up disregarding them; it could be the times we’ve given into temptation of various kinds. Being in fellowship with one another means recognizing that we all face similar challenges – and we all need God’s help, and one another’s, to respond to them.

Fellowship allows us to be utterly transparent about who we are and who we’re striving to be as children of a loving God.

To read more, please check out the full sermon on our website here.