Christian Culture?

Since it's completely unrealistic to imagine all Christian denominations merging into one - to attain unity in the Church, what should be the strategy? It seems if we had a Christian culture, that centered around our core beliefs, we could then begin to focus on what we hold in common, bringing about an atmosphere of unity.

We have experienced this very gift of unity whenever we celebrate Sabbath with others. Every Saturday night we begin Sabbath, and close Sabbath every Sunday night. (The Early Church moved observance of Sabbath to Saturday evening instead of Friday evening to distinguish themselves) This observance is something we share with Moses and the other children of Israel. We share this with Peter, Paul, John and the other disciples. It is an observance that unifies us with our history, and can unify us today as God's People.

Gavin has taken the traditional Jewish ceremony and written in aspects of our Christian faith (check out our family webpage for the full liturgy).

We start by lighting the candles. Instead of a Hebrew blessing, the eldest woman quotes Jn. 8:12 "Jesus says...'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Gavin blesses the children, first boys (when we have company - he always looks forward to blessing the boys:)), and then the girls using the traditional Hebrew blessing - in English. The girls are blessed in the name of Sarah, Rachel, Rebbecca, and Leah who were strong women of the faith, who led their families, along with their husbands, to follow the Lord.

Then we talk through the Gospel, highlighting three areas (Gavin asks the girls a series of questions on each topic which they happily answer):

1. God created the world
2. God saved us from Egypt - we were slaves - passover
3. Jesus set us free - He broke his body and poured out his blood and was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit, the same spirit that lives in God's People.

After a few short remaining blessings, we each go to one another and say "The peace of Sabbath to you" with a hug.

No matter who has been with us, whether it be a soccer mom, an Anglican priest, new believers, catholic background, baptist background, children or adult - every one can relate to this short liturgy. We then dig in and have a great meal together.

We try very hard to make our observance of Sabbath one that is freeing instead of full of law - so we focus on things we'd like to do over the next 24hrs: paint, sketch, read a book, family dance time, etc. Mobile phones are turned off and there is no work done during that time, either. It's freeing and enjoyable - what we believe it is supposed to be. It's also a time to reflect on the reality that all we have is from the Lord, and remind us how greatly we need Him.

I'll talk about what we do to close Sabbath tomorrow.

I'm talking about this, not because I believe it will solve all of our problems and suddenly make a unified Church. I'm talking about this because I believe we can all agree that we have lost our connection back to the Early Church and to each other. Even though we hold certain core beliefs in common, we don't have a culture that supports those beliefs and brings unity. Things like this point us in the right direction.

How would it feel for us Christians, if when we walk into another believers home on Saturday night - in any part of the world - and we know we're going to observe Sabbath because that's "what we do", it's our culture? (it's what our fathers of the faith did, it's what the early church did) It would feel amazing to be able to share such a practice with others that believe what I believe. (btw, it also opens up a peaceful and gracious way to talk about the many things we disagree on - I've seen it happen over and over again.)

It's not a difficult thing. These are small areas we can move in to come a little closer to a unified Christian culture.....

What are some other ways? ...thoughts?