Common Identity

At the training I mentioned in my last post, another of the discussions that we had was about identity, and where our identity should come from.  This was a tremendously challenging part of the day for me, because the guy leading the discussion was emphasizing the common identity that we all share in Christ — at the core of every person is a need for Jesus, a need that Jesus is willing to meet through his sacrifice and resurrection.  We all have that in common, and that is our identity.

The notion of “common identity” was really difficult for me to wrap my mind around.  I’m used to thinking of my identity as what sets me apart from everyone else, what makes me distinct.  As another person pointed out, though, the emphasis that our culture places on the Individual rather than the Community is a very western, and relatively recent, idea.  But I’m very western, so there’s a strong part of me that recoils against losing that individualism.

To say it another way, I’ve discovered that I value individual identity quite a lot.  It’s important to me to recognize that each person is distinct from each other, with a very different set of experiences, abilities, and ideas.  And, while I theologically accept the notion that we all share a need for Jesus, I have to admit that it makes me nervous that over-emphasizing our commonality will lead to a loss of respect for the traits that make each of us unique.

One of the best things I learned from my Religious Studies classes has been the view of community held by most liturgical forms of Christianity — liturgy is powerful because it is shared, both by others in the present day and by Christians in ages past.  The fact that it is  held in common among all Catholics, or all Episcopalians, or all Orthodox Christians (and so on) is a large part of what lends liturgy its significance.

I love this idea.  Now that I’ve recognized how strongly I value the individual experience (I am from an Evangelical Protestant background, after all — “liturgy” is a dirty word where I come from!), though, I’m having a hard time finding a the balance between the two.  How do we hold together the importance of the individual and the importance of the community without devaluing either?  And, even though I’ve been thinking about this in a religious context, it applies elsewhere — politically, educationally, intellectually, and so forth.

To their credit, the dissolution of individualism isn’t at all what the discussion leaders were advocating.  They, in fact, pointed out that the Bible gives a pretty clear picture of how to balance the individual and the community — it calls the church to function as a Body.  The individuals reserve their independent roles and capabilities, but all united in the service and support of one another under the leadership of a single head.  It’s really a powerful image, I think, and has been the only way that makes sense to me to hold these two values, the individual and the community, together.

I have much more to consider about this, I think, before I go on.  You can expect to see more from me about the Body as a picture of individual and community soon, readers. :)