 |
| The title logo from the show Community ... written in Ukrainian. |
When the Methodist church started in America, the country was so big and there were very few pastors - so the pastors rode on horseback from church to church. The local group would lead themselves, but at least once a month the pastor would come by to serve communion and encourage the community. Bishop Asbury was one of those circuit riders. The story goes that he went to the home of a man who believed in God, but didn't think he needed to go to church. They sat in front of the fire and the man explained why he didn't need to be part of a Christian community. He explained that he could worship better in nature, and that he could read the Bible for himself, and that he prayed at night. He was tired of the way that people at church fought - he didn't think that should ever happen: and as long as he didn't talk to any of the church people he didn't fight with any of the church people.
Bishop Asbury took the metal stick from the fireplace and moved one burning coal away from the fire. They watched as the fire quickly extinguished, and as the glow began to fade. They watched as it cooled down and became like a rock. They sat in silence for probably 15 minutes - while the fire raged on in the fireplace, that one piece of coal lost all of its heat and burned out. The man looked at Bishop Asbury and said, "I'll be at Church from now on."
Today we begin a three part sermon series on community. We want to look at community, we want to talk about it, we want to talk about how we can make our community stronger, and we want to live this out. We're going to do some scary things, and some fun things.
------
That's the idea, isn't it? That we as Christians should always live in peace and harmony.
And yet, as we search the scriptures - this isn't necessarily the image we get. Oh, Jesus and the disciples are certainly a model of community - but Judas betrayed and the others fought for who would be in the highest position. They often didn't understand what their leader was saying. The women were just as dedicated as the men, but given almost no respect or responsibilities. One disciple was called James the Great and another James the Less. The first community of Jesus followers was pretty broken.
But that was before the resurrection - maybe after the resurrection things were different. And there are verses that certainly show how wonderful the community was - that all lived together, that all shared with one another and gave according to what they had and filled the needs of those around them. But, as we read the book of Acts, we see story after story of deceit and betrayal and challenges and difficulties.
And if we get to the letters - well, why were these letters written? To encourage, to build up the church, yes - but many of these letters were written to convince and argue one side of a disagreement. A lot of the New Testament is based on the huge disagreement between Peter and Paul about how Jewish new Christians had to be. Did you know that most of the New Testament is one giant disagreement? And some of the rest was written by the same people about different arguments they were having. Is this news to you? The next time you have an argument with a friend, and you get ready to send an email - just imagine if people two thousand years from now were basing their religious views on what you wrote. Would you change what you wrote?
These were open and public letters that Paul wrote - but they were written to defend a very unique theological viewpoint. It's the viewpoint that ultimately won - and what we believe today. But the people in these new Christian communities - they heard both sides of the argument, and they made their decision based on what was written.
And in Revelation, John mentions a few of the Christian communities - and then explains what their biggest problems are. So, it's hard to hold on to this idea of the perfect first century church. I mean, they did things better than we do now, but they did some things exactly like we do.
And - we have this idea that there must be a perfect church, or a perfect community, or a perfect group of Christian friends. But the harsh reality is that if there is a perfect place like that, it wouldn't be perfect after you join it. We are broken people.
So what is a Christian community? What does that mean? Well ... let's start with a Greek lesson about the word for church -
When I say "church" what do you think of? It's a loaded word, it's a word that when you hear it - you have lots of thoughts, and usually specific thoughts.
When I was in India, we told the story of Zacheus who climbed the tree - and we all drew a picture of that. Every American on our team drew a big leafy oak tree - and every Indian child drew a coconut tree. When I say "church" you probably think of a different type of building than I or a british person, or a Korean, or an Indian would think of. You probably think of the church that you grew up in or the church that you attend. I would never call us a church, because I have lots of ideas in my head about what a church should be and we don't fit those ideas. I call us a Christian community. We come from different churches, and together we make a community.
But the early Christians, they gathered in communities and the word used to describe this was Ekklesia. And Ekklesia had really one meaning.
Have you seen in old movies, when the newspaper boy would cry out the news? You know: extra, extra, read all about it! In the first century, this was how news was spread. Someone would go through the streets crying out the news for all to hear - and the group of people who gathered to hear the news called out to them ... this group was known as Ekklesia. The called out ones.
And this ... this doesn't fit most of our understandings of what it means to be the church. Of what it means to be a Christian community. The called out ones where the ones who gathered to hear the good news of Jesus Christ - and I guess they were the ones who stuck around and kept hearing and telling others that good news. The word for church has nothing to do with a building, nothing to do with membership or denominations, and nothing to do with many of our ideas. It is about hearing the Good News - and it is about responding to that Good News.
What is a Christian community - it's a group of people who gather to hear the good news ... but it's so much more. If you come once a week and listen to something, that doesn't make you part of a community. You are part of a community when you choose to be part of that community. When you choose to make that community part of who you are.
So what is a Christian community? What does that mean? Well ... let's start with a Greek lesson about the word for church -
When I say "church" what do you think of? It's a loaded word, it's a word that when you hear it - you have lots of thoughts, and usually specific thoughts.
When I was in India, we told the story of Zacheus who climbed the tree - and we all drew a picture of that. Every American on our team drew a big leafy oak tree - and every Indian child drew a coconut tree. When I say "church" you probably think of a different type of building than I or a british person, or a Korean, or an Indian would think of. You probably think of the church that you grew up in or the church that you attend. I would never call us a church, because I have lots of ideas in my head about what a church should be and we don't fit those ideas. I call us a Christian community. We come from different churches, and together we make a community.
But the early Christians, they gathered in communities and the word used to describe this was Ekklesia. And Ekklesia had really one meaning.
Have you seen in old movies, when the newspaper boy would cry out the news? You know: extra, extra, read all about it! In the first century, this was how news was spread. Someone would go through the streets crying out the news for all to hear - and the group of people who gathered to hear the news called out to them ... this group was known as Ekklesia. The called out ones.
And this ... this doesn't fit most of our understandings of what it means to be the church. Of what it means to be a Christian community. The called out ones where the ones who gathered to hear the good news of Jesus Christ - and I guess they were the ones who stuck around and kept hearing and telling others that good news. The word for church has nothing to do with a building, nothing to do with membership or denominations, and nothing to do with many of our ideas. It is about hearing the Good News - and it is about responding to that Good News.
What is a Christian community - it's a group of people who gather to hear the good news ... but it's so much more. If you come once a week and listen to something, that doesn't make you part of a community. You are part of a community when you choose to be part of that community. When you choose to make that community part of who you are.
Community is broken. Christian Community is, really by definition, a group of broken people being broken together. It's not that we all have everything perfectly under control - it's that we are all broken and hurting, but we choose to live into this together in community. What does that mean? It means that when you choose to share your joys and your struggles with a group of people, they are your community.
They are your imperfect community.
They are your imperfect community.
We are an imperfect community. Every church and Christian group is imperfect. This is just a fact. If you came to this place to be with these people because you saw something perfect - well, I hate to disappoint you, but we are not perfect. I am not perfect. Volodya isn't perfect. And we as a community are not perfect. But, we're getting better.
This is the power of community. It is in this brokeness that God is able to use us. Together we are stronger and better than we could ever be on our own. God is able to do so much through us, and through our brokeness as well.
We come from different cultures and backgrounds - and somehow it works. Every time Vitya begins telling me some anecdote in Russian, I just smile and wait until the end to laugh ... because even when I understand every word, my sense of humor is just different. And I tell jokes all the time that no one laughs at. We have big cultural differences - but when we gather together to worship God as a community ... all of those differences disappear. In our brokeness, God is glorified.
We come from different cultures and backgrounds - and somehow it works. Every time Vitya begins telling me some anecdote in Russian, I just smile and wait until the end to laugh ... because even when I understand every word, my sense of humor is just different. And I tell jokes all the time that no one laughs at. We have big cultural differences - but when we gather together to worship God as a community ... all of those differences disappear. In our brokeness, God is glorified.
No comments:
Post a Comment