Whose follower are you?

Last night we were at a birthday party, a surprise party thrown by the friends of one of our brothers in Sta. Rosa. We had a rare chance to meet some of our old friends/comrades from other churches.

After the party, some lingered around and talked for a while before heading home. One of the former pastors of my old denomination shared how the senior pastor of his present church was really an uncommon Pentecostal because he was strict with the Word. That means he really had a very high respect and admiration for his senior pastor. He also mentioned how one of the families of Metro South Vineyard now attends his church.

The whole conversation reminded me how Paul scolded the Corinthians about being followers of Peter, followers of Paul, followers of Apollos, and followers of Christ. He scolded them for the factionalism and disunity in the Corinthian church.

Will he not scold us in the 21st century for being followers of so many leaders and for being divided into hundreds of denominations and thousands of churches? When I meet other Christians, the talk is always about "Which church do you belong to? What denomination does your church belong to? Are you Pentecostal, Evangelical, Born-again, Full-Gospel, Protestant, Catholic, etc?" And as if that was not enough, Christians now talk of their ministries like they were denominations. Worse, they now want to convert churches and denominations into their "way of ministering."

Have we become followers of men instead of followers of Christ? Be honest. Paul warned that God will destroy those who destroy His temple — who divide His church.

What is communion?

My wife is in the province on a mission and I'm left at home to look after the kids. Yesterday, Sunday, was a pretty tough day, busy with household chores. Good thing it was Sunday, and it was a day when I did less of my business work. In the evening, almost everyone was present -- just one of the boys was out. However, short dinner together was, it was lovely, sharing in a meal my daughter, my eldest son and I prepared: mung bean stew and deep-fried chicken.

The best part was sharing time together and joking around. With three teenagers, that's the order of the day. :)

Communion comes from two simple words: common and union. We've placed too much religious meaning into communion that we've lost the real sense of that word. Communion is about sharing in the things we have in common and thereby developing unity.

Communion is not a ritual. It's a lifestyle. It's about sharing with the ones we love, spending time and resources with them, serving them, and being served by them too. It's about going out of our way to develop unity with each other. It's about fellowship, talking, eating, and laughing; sharing dreams, concerns, hopes, and disappointments. And, the most important thing we share in common is Christ and his love.