Mennonite Weekly Review

The filmmaker Woody Allen said 90 percent of life is just showing up. The number is debatable, but the basic point is right: Every meaningful act starts with being there.

Showing up isn’t what it used to be, though. Reporting to work or talking with friends can mean sitting down with a computer anywhere. We’re grateful for technology that erases barriers of distance.

But something is missing: the power of presence. The church must preserve this human touch. In a world of disembodied communication, gathering with other Christians lets us get “bodied” again. Being physically present with each other holds more value than ever in an age of virtual offices and Facebook friends.

The church has always faced the challenge of gathering a flock that tends to divide along lines the world draws. The Apostle Paul addressed this problem when he emphasized that all the believers at Corinth should eat together when they met for the Lord’s Supper. In 2 Corinthians 11 he rebukes those who overindulge while others go hungry. They “humiliate those who have nothing.” Perhaps the wealthy were gathering separately and not sharing with the poor. Their disregard for fellow believers contradicted the unity that the Lord’s Supper was supposed to symbolize. The solution was to wait until all were present.

In contrast to the Corinthians’ division, the power of presence unites diverse people. Eastern Mennonite Missions worker Anna Ralph writes on page 7 of such an experience. Wanting to show strength and competence in her interactions with women in Ethiopia, she instead felt like a failure. But she discovered that just “sharing their world” made an impact, even if she lacked eloquent words or expertise.

Why is presence powerful? For one thing, gathering in groups multiplies our ability to “spur each other on to love and good deeds” (Heb. 10:24). A recent article in Wired magazine on the success of Alcoholics Anonymous notes that “psychologists have long known that one of the best ways to change human behavior is to gather people with similar problems into groups.” Church can be group therapy or, if you like, positive peer pressure.

The presence of other believers can help us worship God, even when we’re not officially worshiping. In Theology as If Jesus Matters (Cascadia, 2009), Ted Grimsrud of Eastern Mennonite University says he doesn’t mind if someone calls the church a social club (though it is more than that) because “our being together [is] part of our worship of God. It is a powerful force in encouraging us to be spiritually alive… . We need to have a sense that we are part of something bigger than our individual selves.”

That sense of something bigger may be stronger when we’re singing a hymn with a crowd in the sanctuary. But it’s no less real in Sunday school when the conversation ranges from the week’s joys and struggles to faith’s deep questions. With a community that cares, we’re on a journey together that’s not possible in isolation.

We can’t really know God without knowing God’s people. In spite of our sins and faults, by God’s grace we’re collectively greater than the sum of our parts.

“The body of Christ” is a figure of speech. But it’s literally true that we can’t be as Christ to the world unless we get our bodies to show up together.