"Participating in LIfe"

Father, thank you for your word and for the people gathered. Thank you for the family we share, for the love that moves among us, and for the love you continually pour into us so that we can pour it back toward one another and into the world around us. Thank you for the kind of shared communion that reflects your own life—Father, Son, and Spirit—perfect unity and shared presence. As we turn our attention to your word, we quiet our hearts and make ourselves ready to receive what you are doing within us by your Spirit.

For weeks, one word has kept coming to mind: participate.

Not observe. Not merely analyze. Not simply attend or accumulate information.

But participate.

That word became the center of what I want to say: the Christian life is meant to be participation in what God is doing—within us, among us, and through us into the world.

A trip that became a reminder

Recently, our family traveled to serve at a ministry gathering in Watford City, North Dakota. The trip itself was simple but rich in meaning: drive, serve, connect, and return. We had done similar things before, but each time it feels like a fresh reminder of something important.

We drove through wide-open spaces, miles of ranchland and fields, and eventually arrived in Watford City, North Dakota, a small but rapidly growing town shaped by oil industry expansion and surrounded by striking natural beauty. Just nearby sits Theodore Roosevelt National Park, with its rugged terrain and quiet presence that makes you feel both small and grounded at the same time.

What stood out most, though, wasn’t the landscape or the growth of the town. It was the people. It was reconnecting with familiar faces—Shayla and Brody, who once lived near our church, who we had known in earlier seasons of life, and who are now building a life and family in a very different place.

Seeing them again wasn’t just a reunion. It was a reminder that life in Christ travels with people. It moves. It grows. It shows up in unexpected places and continues unfolding across time and distance.

And in that setting, alongside a larger gathering serving others—feeding both body and spirit—we simply participated.

We showed up. We served. We listened. We shared space.

And somehow, that was enough.

The simplicity of participation

That word again: participate.

So much of Christian life gets reduced, over time, into observation. We can begin to think of church as something we attend, sermons as something we evaluate, and faith as something we mentally agree with.

But the New Testament picture is much more alive than that.

It is a shared life.

Jesus said in John 10:10 that he came so we would have life—abundant life. Not distant life. Not theoretical life. Life that is experienced, shared, and expressed.

Participation means we respond to that life already present within us. We don’t manufacture it. We don’t earn it. We respond to it.

Sometimes that response feels like direction—what to say, where to go, when to stop.

Sometimes it feels like a quiet inner awareness, a “green light” or a “no, not that way.”

And sometimes it is even simpler: just being aware that God is present here, right now, in the middle of ordinary moments.

A shared life, not a solo experience

Jesus describes this kind of relationship in John 14:20: “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”

That is not distant spirituality. That is shared life.

The Christian life is not God standing far off, occasionally interacting with us from a distance. It is God dwelling within, forming a shared existence with his people.

That reality reshapes how we think about growth. Spiritual maturity is not about getting God closer. It is about becoming more aware of the One who is already present.

That awareness changes everything. It turns ordinary moments into opportunities for communion. It turns routine days into places of participation.

We don’t have to manufacture spiritual connection. We learn to notice it.

The church as a body, not an audience

This shared life becomes visible in community.

Scripture describes it this way:

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13).

And again:

“…joined and knit together by what every joint supplies…” (Ephesians 4:16).

The image is not of a crowd sitting in rows receiving information. It is body connected, interdependent, alive.

Growth does not come from one part working alone. It comes from the whole body functioning together, each part supplying what it has been given.

That means participation is not optional extra-credit Christianity. It is the way the body lives.

When one part is absent, something is missing—not just socially, but functionally. Life in the body is meant to flow through connection.

This is why gathering matters, but it is also why engagement matters beyond gathering. Encouraging, serving, forgiving, noticing, listening, showing up—these are all expressions of participation.

The church is not primarily an audience receiving a performance. It is a living body sharing a life.

Communion: shared life made visible

One of the clearest expressions of this shared life is communion.

In 1 Corinthians 10:16–17, Scripture speaks of the “communion of the body of Christ.” The word carries the sense of fellowship, partnership, shared participation.

Communion is both vertical and horizontal:

• Vertical: participation with Christ

• Horizontal: participation with one another

It is not just an individual spiritual moment. It is a corporate declaration: we share one life.

Each time we take communion, we are reminded that we are not isolated believers pursuing private spirituality. We are one body sharing one source of life.

That reality is both grounding and humbling. It reorders how we think about independence, faith, and community.

We belong to something larger than ourselves.

Participation in everyday life

What stood out most on the trip wasn’t a single dramatic moment. It was the simple act of being present.

People serve joyfully in difficult conditions. Conversations that carried warmth and sincerity. Meals shared. Work done together. Lives intersecting for a short time yet leaving something meaningful behind.

There is something deeply spiritual about that kind of presence.

We often imagine ministry as something highly structured or highly visible. But much of it is simply shared life—people showing up where they are needed, offering what they have, and trusting that God is already at work in the space between them.

That is participation.

A life we share together

The Christian life is not just something we personally possess. It is something we collectively live.

We don’t only have individual relationships with Jesus. We share his life together.

That changes how we treat one another. It changes how we endure difficulty. It changes how we see gathering, serving, and even conflict.

Because if the same life is in me and in you, then reconciliation is always possible. Restoration is always possible. Growth is always possible.

We are not disconnected individuals trying to follow God in parallel paths. We are a body formed together.

Closing reflection

So maybe the invitation is simple:

Participate in the life already within you.

Not perfectly. Not fully figured out. But honestly and consistently.

Show up. Pay attention. Respond. Stay connected.

Because the life of Christ is not something we merely observe from a distance.

It is something we share.