We Belong to God

Jim:

Genesis 49:29-50:14
49:31 is a part of Jacob’s instructions to his sons to bury him in Canaan in a particular field. “There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah…” In death as in life Jacob understands himself to be a part of the tradition, a part of the family of God’s people. To be buried among them accentuates that sense of belonging. In life and death we, too, belong to God, belong to the family of faith, the tradition that has gone before and which continues on.

1 Corinthians 11:2-34
It’s a minor point in this passage, but when Paul wants to end his discussion about veils and hair he says, “we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God” (verse 16b). In other words Paul is appealing to practice and custom within the other congregations and thereby reminding the Corinthians that they are part of a larger whole. There is an accountability among all the churches, one to another, and there is a shared responsibility, too. Paul was active in collecting money among the Gentile Christian communities to help support the church in Jerusalem, an act that recognizes the connection that exists within the church universal. Just as death does not separate us from God or the family of God, neither does geography or location.