“I know I’m ladder climbing when I’m angry.” When Justin spoke those words this Sunday reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Up until that point I had been struggling to think of what kinds of things I climb the ladder towards instead of Christ, but those words brought to light a whole lot of things that made me see the reality of my struggles as a sinner in a broken world. As difficult as it is for me to admit a lot of things make me angry, and I’ve often wondered to myself why, and now I think I understand at least in part why. When I am “ladder climbing” towards something that isn’t Christ, or of Christ, or for Christ I am inevitably going to be disappointed and angry, because things of this world are finite and broken and therefore cannot be fulfilling. However, it is encouraging to know that I often have a physical marker of when I am not abiding in Christ and can hopefully use that in the future to help me refocus myself towards Christ.

We are made to act in communion with Christ; we are made to abide in him. Outside of this we have/are nothing and are bound for anger and disappointment. We cannot climb the ladder to perfection on our own, we need to be knit into the vine of Christ, and we do this by abiding in Christ by faith. One of the ways we can abide in Christ is through our everyday liturgies, the small everyday things we do that show us what our hearts point toward. However, anything can become a liturgy, and all too easily these liturgies can begin pointing our hearts towards things apart from Christ. That is why it is so important to be a part of a community of Christ. If we are the vine, then Christian worship is the trellis, it incorporates us into the body of the church where we can be nourished and our everyday liturgies can be directed towards Christ. God reforms our loves, our liturgies, through worship, confession, and communion. It sets us apart from the things of the world that seek to shape and form our hearts to things outside of Christ.

~ Rachel Whippo