You can play for a football team and you are part of it. You can be part of the larger squad or the huge back office support team, staff, actively involved, and you are part of it. You may be one of the faithful volunteers who turns up rain or shine to sell programmes and you are part of it. You may be a fan who pays out £600 for a season ticket - you're part of it, but not quite in the same way. You may make the effort to watch every match on TV or invested in a satellite subscription, you are part of it.
It may be that the extent of your involvement is in naming a particular team when someone asks who you support.... Are you still part of it, or is that answer just a way of 'feeling part of it' rather than actually getting involved?
There are different levels of being 'part of something' and any may lead you deeper so are not to be discouraged however there is a very significant difference between being on the team, or the staff, and being a season ticket holder and even greater difference between these and sitting on the couch with a beer watching the match on Sky!
So, being part of it is great, but the reality is that there are only a limited number of people can be part of it in a fully engaged and participative way. The problem is that we so often carry what is 'reality' or 'truth' in one area, into a different area where it is not the reality or the truth - but we still act as though it is!
What do I mean? In God's Kingdom everyone not only can 'be on the team' and play a full and active part, It is a requirement...and a privelege. But, the recent history of the church in the west would seem to indicate that many have settled for merely 'feeling part of it' by being a season ticket holder who turns up and watches. Obviously when asked who they support they answer 'team Jesus' !
Are we a part of it or apart from it?
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