Community

I decided it's time to return to my blog. It's probably way beyond time, but it recently occurred to me that I am writing a blog's worth of thought each week for the Protestant Chapel Newsletter, so it doesn't make sense not to post it here. Most weeks it has been a brief commentary on one of the Lectionary readings for the coming week - often influenced by thoughts while doing "Running Faith" on Thursday evenings (an opportunity for folks to run together while contemplating scripture).

NOTE: There will be context specific references in these posts. For now I'm not going to edit them out. Maybe that will change.

So, here it is: a commentary on Acts 2:44-47

All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need...Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. (NRSV)

Community

Or is it communism? Wow, that’s a challenging thought! If you read this brief account of the early church you might feel a little uneasy with how it describes what the disciples did. They sold private property to hold it all together in common so that everybody would have what they would need. Sounds a bit sketchy to us who live in today’s culture of freedom, capitalism, and individuality.

It might be appropriate to challenge how we champion “individuality” today, especially when it is without regard to cost. But we also have to be careful about applying this account of the early church to our lives today without careful thought. This describes a community that was forming out of the chaos of God’s new revelation in Jesus Christ - a community that was separating itself from a communal history and trying to form a new understanding of who they were. This new community formed a new identity and a new purpose for their life - proclaiming the risen Christ and the coming of God’s Kingdom. This is not a commentary on today’s socioeconomic-political realities, but a description of God’s Kingdom.

We still can learn from them, however. Their issues with the world aren’t all that different than our current realities. We share their identity as Children of God.

We can learn from how they handled their “stuff.” All of what they had became completely secondary to their new identity as Children of God. They found community in broken bread and praise. Their community gathered for the purpose of mutual support and the worship of a loving God. We don’t do so well with that today. Our “stuff” has become more important than the community we share - whether it’s back home, or here at CLDJ (even though we have limited ability to accumulate stuff here).

I challenge you to consider what is drawing you away from the community that is here. What is it that has become more important to you than spending time with your brothers and sisters serving in this place with you? What is it that you can do to find a “glad and sincere” heart so that you can praise God?