The church is that fresh, new family that is composed of those who have heard Jesus' "follow me" and have stepped forward and said "yes." The chief act of Christian worship is not some mysterious, dark, esoteric rite. It is a family meal with everyone around the table, the Sunday dinner we call the Lord's Supper, family as God intended family to be.
What do you have to do to be credibly called a Chrisitan, a contemporary follower of Jesus? You must be willing to be baptized, to be adopted by a new, far-flung, barrier-breaking family, the church. You must be disposed to let go of your innate American rugged individualism and be subsumed in a family bigger and more demanding than the one into which you were born. You must join us at the table, addressing some of the most sinful, often difficult-to-bear rascals as "brother" or "sister," just because Jesus loves them to death.--Will Willimon, Why Jesus
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