UNIT THREEThe Church is the

People of God

3.1 Together as One3.1 Together as One

One For All, All For OneOne For All, All For One Hope, happiness, and the ability

to cope with difficulty all depend on a person’s willingness to live in solidarity with others.

Being a mature Christian means standing in solidarity with those who are in need, freely offering our love and compassion to them, and responding to their needs and their hopes as our own.

Basic Human Truth:Basic Human Truth:

Our lives are meaningless unless we are connected to one another.

Basic Religious Truth: “It is not good for the man to

be alone” (Genesis 2:18). God created us to be one

with others, He offers us salvation as a people who are one.

Adam and EveAdam and Eve

Adam and Eve are perfect companions because they are one, just as they are also one with God.

The serpent convinces the woman that unity with God is a hindrance.

Adam and Eve’s Adam and Eve’s disobediencedisobedience They deliberately do what God

has told them not to do. The unity which God intended

is destroyed. The man and the woman no

longer see themselves in one another. They see someone who is completely different than before the disobedience.

Salvation History Tells the long story of humanity’s

return to unity with God and with one another.

Abraham: God called him to make of him a great nation, a unified people.

Moses: God called him to free the descendents of Abraham from bondage, lead them to a place where they might know and serve God as one.

A Communal IdentityA Communal Identity

• To be an Israelite was to be one of God’s chosen people.

Israelites Israelites

The chosen people of God Descendants of Abraham through

Isaac and Jacob, also known as Israel

Religious lawReligious law Gave Israelites the continued Gave Israelites the continued

strength to live as a peoplestrength to live as a people Not only a demand but a Not only a demand but a

precious gift from Godprecious gift from God Held the community together Held the community together

so that together they could so that together they could do what none could do alonedo what none could do alone Obey God’s will and avoid Obey God’s will and avoid

bondage of sin bondage of sin

Catholic understanding of Catholic understanding of communitycommunity

Regardless of what we intend or desire, we are shaped by others and we shape others.

Our relationship with God is dependent on how our community, the Church –relates to God.

Catholic Doctrine Rooted in Catholic Doctrine Rooted in CommunityCommunity

Doctrine of original sin is related to our communal identity.

The sin of two individuals affects the entire human race.

Human nature itself was changed by Adam and Eve’s rejection of God.

Original SinOriginal Sin

Absence of holiness and justice given by God to the first people

Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, humans are inclined to sin and are subject to ignorance, suffering and death.

Doctrine of SalvationDoctrine of Salvation Also tied to our communal

identity: Jesus’ life of complete fidelity to the Father affected every other person.

As soon as there was one human being who conquered death, the possibility of avoiding the clutches of death was open to all humanity.

Jesus offered new community Jesus offered new community identityidentity

Identity which inclines us to live as one, to work in partnership with God, to share in the unity of the Trinity

Jesus established a new people whose lives are governed, not by an external law, but by a law that was written on their hearts, a law that is a part of their very nature.

Reborn Through BaptismReborn Through Baptism The baptized are reborn as

members of the Church, the new People of God

Those baptized have been changed; they have become “new creatures.”

In Baptism, a person is given a new character: belonging to God and to other people through God.

Baptism is necessary for Baptism is necessary for salvation!salvation!

Baptism is the only way we know of giving oneself to God and of being incorporated into the People of God.

God however, is free to make people his own through other means.

Baptism of DesireBaptism of Desire

Seeking the truth and doing the will of God to the best of one’s understanding, even though the person may not understand the gospel or the necessity of the Church

God allows these people who would have explicitly desired baptism if they understood its necessity to share in benefits

New identityNew identity

Draws us into community Called to defer to one another and

make our choices based on our communal needs and desires, not just on our individual needs and desires.

The Church as a shipThe Church as a ship

• Just as a ship’s crew must live and act as one if they are to survive and get where they are going, so too must our communal identity as the People of God be the deciding factor in all we do.

The presence of the Holy Spirit The presence of the Holy Spirit makes us who we are!makes us who we are!

The People of God are the people in whom God’s Spirit dwells.

They are one because the Spirit within them is one

We Are A Chosen RaceWe Are A Chosen Race

We are not saying: God ignores or dismisses other We are the “best team” We are separate individuals set against

one another

We Are A Chosen RaceWe Are A Chosen Race

We are saying: We are chosen as we were created, as

one We are referring to the fact that God

chose to be one with humanity, That God chose to offer us a partnership

with the Trinity, That God chose to love us

We Are A Royal PeopleWe Are A Royal People Royalty understood in the

Judeo-Christian tradition means “to be anointed by God”

Christians have been anointed by God to provide others with that which is most necessary for life –God’s love

Our status, dignity, and freedom are those of the children of the most high, the king of kings

Leading Through Service and Leading Through Service and Self-Sacrifice Self-Sacrifice

Christians are to rule as Jesus did We are to commit ourselves to those

who are most in need and can offer us the least

Our worship forms our identity and reminds us of this challenge

The Eucharist explicitly The Eucharist explicitly commits us to the poor.commits us to the poor.

When we share the body and blood of Christ, we are reminded that there is nothing that we should refuse to share.

When we share in the body of Christ we become what we eat.

We Are A Kingdom Of We Are A Kingdom Of PriestsPriests All Christians are also priests. We are called to consecrate the

world to God in his or her daily life

We do this by asking the Holy Spirit to be part of everything that we do, and by offering all that we do to God along with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

PriestPriest Every Christian, male or female,

young or old, religious, lay, or ordained, who by virtue of their Baptism is called to consecrate the world to God in his or her daily life.

This priesthood of the baptized is different that the ordained priesthood.

Ordained priests consecrate the bread and wine during Eucharist and preside at the other sacraments.

The power of ordination is a The power of ordination is a power to serve.power to serve.

Guiding, supporting, and strengthening all believers

By acting as a living sign of what it should be

We Are A Nation Of We Are A Nation Of ProphetsProphets All who encounter the People of God

should encounter the truth of God, the way which God established for humanity, and the life God intended for all human beings.

ProphetProphet

Someone through whom the will of God is made known

Prophets speak and live the truth in such a way that others are able to hear and recognize God and God’s will for the world.

Prophets are the voices of Prophets are the voices of freedomfreedom Freedom is the power to make

the choices which will enable us to fulfill our potential and become the people we were created to be.

By challenging us to live in communion and accept our responsibility for one another, prophets lead us to freedom.

In ConclusionIn Conclusion

God created people to live in community

Our ability to live in unity with one another was damaged by the sin of Adam and Eve Now human beings are born with an

inclination to distance ourselves from one another and from God

In ConclusionIn Conclusion

Jesus came so that our nature could be healed and we could take on a new corporate identity that is not marred by original sin. Jesus established a new people freed

from original sin

In ConclusionIn Conclusion When we choose to become

part of the People of God we are joined to Christ and to one another. Who we are is now defined first

and foremost by the essential characteristics of the People of God.

Once united to God through Baptism, we are a chosen people.

In ConclusionIn Conclusion We must begin to understand

ourselves as priests, called to consecrate the world to God; as rulers, called to lead and govern others through love and service, and as prophets, called to be a living witness to the truth and a living sign of God’s presence.