It seems to me that accountability itself, in a Christian community, is a polyphonic three pronged relationship between our willpower, the Christian community, and God.
If we lean too heavily on our willpower and ignore those who prophetically speak into our lives, then we run the risk of thinking we’ve done it all on our own and we fail to give glory to God. Thus we weaken the vertical connection with God. We see this in the case of Saul in 1 Samuel as he becomes jealous of David’s notoriety. He fails to acknowledge God’s hand in both his and David’s victory.[1]
If we lean to heavily on community for correction, then the community becomes a crutch for us, and our willpower muscle becomes underdeveloped. We run the risk of operating in a sin/correction/repent/sin cycle. The community becomes our external conscience and again the focus is on community not God.
Instead, our focus should always be on God. As He challenges us to grow, we hear prophetic confirmation from those in the community with us, whose focus is again on God. Sometimes, community challenge can be the catalyst for change, the jolt out of denial of our sins that we need; as in the case with David and Nathan regarding Bathsheba.[2] Ultimately the onus is on David to make the change required, to admit his sin and come to repentance and right relationship with God.
We want others to see God in us and mirror back to them, God in them. Ramsey points out, “when we see God present in those around us, then within the pastoral community we stand half a chance of becoming present to one another.”[3]
[1] 1 Sam 18:8
[2] 2 Sam 12:7—9
[3] G. Lee Ramsey Jr. Care-full Preaching, 48
Are you the reflection of God into people's life around you?
Have a blessed day!
Maria F. Godinho
Excerpt from my Pastoral care paper on Cultivating Caring Community
I was reading Renewing Pastoral Practice by Neil Pembroke he describes the relationship of the Trinity as a polyphony; "The chief attribute of this musical term is ‘simultaneous non-excluding difference: that is, more than one note is played at a time, and none of these notes is so dominant that it renders another mute." ...I loved that description.
