“All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. On that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions” (Exodus 12:50-51, NIV).

Most Monday mornings I receive a text from a physician friend at work, “Can you meet and pray today?” We gather with one or two other Christian physicians for about 30 minutes, talking about raising kids, personal witness, good fun and heartaches. We are a body of believers who leave that room stronger than when we entered, stronger together than any of us could be alone.

My faith is so personal that I used to define my purpose and identity based on my individual relationship with Jesus Christ. However, I have come to understand such an individualistic approach to my faith fosters a limited understanding of God’s plan for His kingdom. St. Paul did not say that I was the bride of Christ. Paul, and later John in the book of Revelations, understood the church to be the bride of Christ.

God through Christ has called out a people, not just individual persons. So, just as I need to identify who I am with Christ, I need to identify with and join the people He has called out. We need not wait for the cross to teach us everything we are as His people. Thousands of years before the cross, God gave us the Passover. And with that Passover, even as Christians, we can grasp an understanding of who we are. Within the Passover story in Chapter 12 of Exodus, we discover that we are:

A people once enslaved by sin.
A people of promise, waiting for “thy kingdom come.”
A people of patience because we are a people who trust.
A people who obey.
A people focused on family.
A people who have been delivered.
A people who must leave much if we are to follow fully.
A people for whom God provides.
A people dependent on God’s power to move us in God’s direction.
A people who bring others with us.
A people who are different, set aside, identifiable.
A people who remember.

All were true for the people of the first Passover. All point forward to the cross. All are true for us, and all must be accomplished together as His people, not as isolated Christian persons.

Dear God,
Let me be more than myself. Let me with others be your church.
Amen