CORE VALUE #3 - COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY.  Authentically sharing life with one another through teaching, fellowship, worship and living.

A couple of weeks ago a friend posed some interesting thoughts in response to the community found in Acts:

     In Acts 2:42-47, it basically says that the apostles and the believers devoted themselves to study, prayer, and spending all their time in fellowship with each other. It said that they shared all they had and sold their own stuff to help each other out. My friends have on occasion said that sharing of that nature was commonplace, but I have to disagree. Unselfish love of that nature is just not common, it’s not easy and it simply never happens.
     I always think it’s funny that the apostles and the believers always spent time with each other, but we today get over people so quickly and we forget that we are selfish lamewads who are conditioned to believe that the world is truly about ourselves (I am so guilty of this, so back off me Stone Casting police). We judge easily, we look for ways to be apart, to not talk about what we struggle with, and we cover it up with jokes and nonchalance. Even in their relationships, the apostles and the believers gave of themselves completely.  (see http://brittondennis.blogspot.com)

It’s always just one line that will grip my soul in every song that I love.  In David Crowder*Band’s Rescue Is Coming that line says, “And there’s nothing wrong with me, I just believe things could get better.”  This line can still and does bring me to tears.  Somewhere deep within I believe that things can be better than they are right now, and I actually believe that I can be that change in the world with the Spirit of God within me. 

I believe deep within that the reality of the Acts Church is possible today.  What I do know is that living the way of the Acts Church is what truly is life transformational and what creates movement and change in the world around us. In the midst of seemingly meaningful things, it’s remembering that people are of the UTMOST importance and that sharing and living life with others is the greatest thing we can do or have in our lives. It’s investing our whole lives in Christ in the lives of others without thought to what we will gain. Its about vulnerability and intimacy, sharing our greatest joys and our deepest pains and disappointments. It’s about casting aside the fear of being known, I mean truly known. It’s about daring to risk in the life of another, knowing that that risk itself may actually cause us the greatest pain we can’t even imagine, but walking boldly into the future in obedience, serving others with the love, heart and attitude of Christ. IT’S ABOUT LIVING BY FAITH, BEING KNOWN BY LOVE, AND BEING A VOICE OF HOPE TO THE WORLD AROUND US (http://mosaic.org). It’s about letting those things that Paul describes in 1 Cor 13 and 1 Thes 1 define us and represent us. It’s about getting beyond ourselves, our ideas of safety and comfort and becoming a disciple/learner of Christ, WHATEVER the cost. It’s about passionately pursing the very heart of Christ above EVERYTHING else and letting NOTHING else stand in our way of doing EXACTLY what He calls us to. It’s about hearing that whisper and letting it become so familiar that you don’t hesitate, question, or pause in response. It’s about longing for home - for heaven, and knowing every second of every day that we live in eternity present right now and that WE have the power of God to be the change in this world, to create community like the first church had, and then we will be living more free and alive than we ever could have imagined.

Even though I believe this with all of my being, that we too could have this Acts experience, I find myself lost in the midst of lonliness and pain, wrestling with the reality of community.  How can it be that you are in a room with people that you consider friends and still feel alone?  That all along, you stand outside of the circle that you long to be integrated COMPLETELY into.  That you walk away willingly from those who mean the most to you, who you know and who know you?  My heart - it bleeds and I have tried to cry out, but it seems as though no one is really listening.  So, what’s the point of community then?  Is it ever changing and never staying the same?  What happens when community becomes merely a group of people hanging out, rather than people actually sharing life with one another? 

Now, don’t get me wrong - I’ve seen it, and I’ve even experienced it.  I’ve dreamed of community like the Acts Church.  And every so often I get a sweet taste of it.  Like last week, I was talking with a friend about the upcoming transitions in his life.  What I merely thought was just a dream needing to find fulfillment, is actually creativity and uniquness expressing itself in a heart that cannot be contained.  It’s about music, yes, but moreso - the life of worship.  It’s about passion, and the pursuit of that greatest passion.  And it’s about life, living free and fully alive. 

So I have thought over the week, what makes this experience from last week something that represents the Acts Church Community?  I realize that the sharing of life - of thoughts, of experiences, of passion brought understanding and knowing of more than just a dream, but a person.  To know and be known.  I believe that is a longing placed within each of us, which is fulfilled within community and in the person of Christ. 

So, lastly, what about change within and the purpose of community…

I read this excerpt last week from Erwin McManus’ An Unstoppable Force, daring to become the church GOD had in mind:

“Whenever we receive new members at Mosaic, we remind them that receiving them into our community is our commitment to inviting them to change who we are, that we may become who God desires us to be.  Our commitment is not to clone them to who we already are, but that each person who joins our community is a promise from God that He is not finished with us yet.“  And so I wonder, can we really do this?  Can we really welcome the outsider in - as a promise that God is not finished with us yet, and allow our lives to be radically altered by the Spirit of God indwelling another?  I dream that we are able to do this, because in this act there is submission and humility before our creator, there is great faith and trust that things could get better - that we could be better.  And I believe there is even beauty.  Because, as Erwin says, “A community with the servant heart of God knows no limit to sacrifice, and when its people are doing what God created them to do, there is no limit to impact.” 

I just believe things could get better. 

                                                                                                                                                  March 28th, 2007 © allthis