My husband, Jon, and I have spent a lot of time discussing citizenship in the past week or so. The events on the streets of Toronto surrounding the site of the G20 summit have provided a great deal of fodder for thought and conversation, both about what it means to be a citizen, what rights are due citizens, what responsibilities are held by citizens, and how we as citizens should respond to occurrences such as those seen last weekend.
While I would like to say that my faith is constantly informing my political thoughts and deeds, I must admit that I often fail to first think as a Christian, and only second as a Canadian. It wasn't until this morning's sermon, however, that I had ever really thought of myself as a Citizen of Christ. A Christian citizen, certainly, but that is a very different thing. And what a compelling idea: that we are not only followers of Christ, sheep to His shepherd, students to the rabbi, but participants in His kingdom.
In Paul's letter to the people of Philippi, he writes at 1:27, "live as citizens in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" and at 3:20, "But our citizenship is in heaven". We have certain rights as members of the kingdom, such as access to His Grace, His Justification and Salvation, but also we have responsibilities. What are our responsibilities as Citizens of Christ? What are our duties to the Commonwealth of Heaven? It's something I'll be thinking about this week. I'll be thinking about how my citizenship in heaven can inform my citizenship in Canada, too, and how through meditating on the one, I might better fulfill the other.
Darlene
Sunday, July 4, 2010
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Interesting. I was attending a different church this morning with family, and the lesson there was 1 Coritinthians 13: Love. That our words and our mountain-moving faith mean nothing if we don't have love.
ReplyDeleteI like the thought of identifying first and foremost as a Citizen of Christ. And that loving my neighbour is a primary responsibility of my citizenship.
Maureen.
Thanks for this. I am working on next week's children's story for out here in Nanaimo, and I want to talk to the kids about the flags that are in the church. I've been playing with the idea of belonging, but duty is an important part of this idea of citizenship, too. We get to vs we will... Now, the tricky part - making it real for four year olds.
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