Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - July/73

Contributor - Peter J. Yff

Title - A Declaration Of Interdependence

Topic - Relationships

A hasty reading of the title may cause you to jump to a- wrong conclusion. This article is not primarily concerned with the Declaration of Independence commemorated and celebrated by the United States on the Fourth of July. Nor is the reference to Dominion Day, marking Canada's attainment to the status of an-independent nation within the British Commonwealth on July the first 1867. The word is interdependence, not independence.

For the Christian this has much to say, over and beyond what it might mean to anyone. Many thoughtful people are well aware that no person is really independent of other folk. The writer who wrote "No man is- an island" had hold of a great truth. People do need each other. The believer has something more than merely human need on which to base this thought, however. He will have come to see all men as brothers and sisters - since all have been created by Almighty God. There is great need to compose, to ratify, a declaration of interdependence.

There is good warrant for this scripturally. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that there are many members in the body. Each member of the body is important. Each member needs the others. ". . . the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? . . . The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." . . . "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it" (I Cor. 12 : 14-17; 21; 26-27).

As Reformed Churches, and Reformed Church people, we need each other. This is true across the board. Ontario cannot say to British Columbia, "We don't need you," nor can British Columbia say, "You people are so far away - what you need, or say, doesn't matter to us." The church in the country area cannot say to the church in the city, "Your situation is so different from ours, we don't have the same outlook you have, or the same problems, we do not need you." As churches in Canada we cannot say to our sister churches in the United States, "Since there is a national boundary between us, we don't need you." The conservative cannot say to the liberal, "You think differently from me, you're a different breed of person, I don't need you, or want you." Nor should the liberal become so impatient at slow social progress, or concern, that he writes off the conservative as one who believes rightly, but who will not act.

We need each other, on the basis of interdependence, fueled and motivated by love.

What is true in relationships between region and region extends also to individuals and families. It concerns you, and your neighborhood. If we are ever going to break out of our ethnic shell, and become a Canadian church, instead of a Dutch spiritual club, we are going to have to make some contact, to establish some communication. We will need to come to know people because we like people - as people, not just people from the same national origin or background. When we come to know them we can then meaningfully relate the gospel message. Mass communication is more talking at people than it is talking with people. We need that personal dimension, or our message will be so many words without real life, and impact.

For example, that family across the back fence from you, or across the street, who do not quite fit the neigborhood, who are perhaps more noisy, or not as neat as the others, is there anything in your attitude that would attract them to Christ and his church? Or the couple next door, who are pleasant enough to talk to about the weather, have there been opportunities to talk about something more meaningful? The church, after all, is people. If the church is to really live as Christ's body in the world, to do his work, to make known his love, to serve as the redeeming influence of salt and light in the world, it will need to do so on personal terms. When it is real in your life, and when this shows . . . then you have a springboard for action. But only then.

One of the great problems in modern society is that we have become "watchers" instead of "doers". The governments of earth treat people en masse, and big business does the same. We are recorded in terms of an account number, a bit of case history on somebody's computer tape stored away in a data bank. If you doubt it, try writing a big corporation and forget to include your account number. The individual dimension has deteriorated. It cannot be so in the church, nor in society, if society is to be social. There must be interaction and mutual contribution. The Christian has more to share than anybody. Let us begin to move in that direction. Let us avoid the pitfall of failing to communicate. There are many "gaps" between people - old, and young, parents and children, rich and poor, section and section, and so on. A gap is caused by failure to understand the other, or appreciate the other, or love the other. It is bridged when contact is made, when one makes an effort and the' other responds.

Do you see yourself as an individual, or as an individual member of a body that remains incomplete until it relates to, others? A great deal of what you are, or are to- become, depends on the answer.

And again, there is more involved here than merely the human. You and I have been placed within a church that historically has a message both spiritual and social, both temporal and eternal.

We need to be Christ's ambassadors in time, bringing a message, and representing a kingdom, that goes beyond time into eternity. Paul wrote elsewhere that his readers were to be living epistles, to be known and read of all men. The gospel does not need a recommendation or endorsement like a new business or employee does. It needs to become a living letter written on the heart, and displayed in the life (Cf. II Cor. 3 : 13). What kind of message does your brother, or sister, read about God, and about the Church, or about Christ's invitation, from you?

Let's make a declaration of interdependence, upon each other, and upon God, that his work may go forward in our midst.

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