The search for community

Human beings are communal by nature. We have a desperate need for one another.

I grew up in a loving, supportive family. I always knew that Mom loved Dad, Dad loved Mom, and they both loved their kids. Along with my family I grew up in a Church family. The church family was also tight knit. Mom and Dad never missed a worship service and were highly involved in the church. My pastors and my Sunday school teachers loved me. My full participation in the church was expected, and I enjoyed my church home.

I was born in a small farm town. I knew everyone in the town, and everyone in the town knew me. When we met one another, we always greeted one another by name or at least by a knowing nod of the head.

I am not suggesting that my family, or my church, or my town was perfect, but one thing we had was community. In a town of 2,300 we had no police department (didn’t need one) and were protected by an all-volunteer fire department. I always felt safe, and people watched out for one another. I had the privilege of growing up with the benefits of community.

Growing up as a Baptist, I was taught that the Bible was the authority for all life. I am still deeply dependent on the Bible materials to guide my understanding of life and to teach me the way I ought to live. I have read and reread the book. The Bible can be read from a great variety of perspectives. I suggest that the Bible be read from the perspective of a peculiar people’s search for community. The family of Abraham grew from family to tribe to powerful nation. The progeny of Abraham never lacked genius or energy. In their writings they have left us with the insight that community was a necessary ingredient in life. Their concern was not just about family but also about neighbor, sojourner, widow and orphan. In the branch of Judaism that we call Christianity, our leader, messiah, our Lord Jesus left us with clear instruction. Loving our neighbor is second only to the challenge of loving God. It was another way of saying “we need one another.”

The first century Christian church grew very rapidly. Leadership multiplied and spread geographically. In the early church there was not theological agreement. Dominance among the leaders took differing paths. Paul seemingly appeared out of nowhere and became the church’s first dominant writer. To describe the early Christian church as chaotic is an understatement. The leaders of the church held an urgent meeting in Jerusalem in about 50 CE to iron out their differences. There was some agreement, but also significant disagreement. Out of the Jerusalem gathering, Paul emerged as the dominant Christian theologian and lost no time in establishing himself in that role.

Paul’s writings became the dominant reading material for Christian churches, even superseding the preserved words of Jesus himself. In fact, at times Paul ignored the Jesus materials that were available and wrote his own understanding of what it meant to be a true follower of Jesus from Nazareth.

For me (we are all our own theologians), Paul got some things right. He was completely correct in the need of interdependence in the human family. He was first and always a Jew, well trained in the traditions of Judaism. I believe he was totally aware that in the first chapter of Genesis is recorded the response of God when he faced a world in chaos. God did not attack chaos but addressed chaos with good. Paul took the very same approach to the chaos he found in the early church.

In his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul chose to use the human body as a working image of the Christian churches. In chapter 12 he makes his case. There are many body parts but only one body. The possibility of any one part leaving the body and going its own way was not to be considered. All the parts, ear, foot, eye, arm or leg, were dependent on one another. Each had a role to play. Independence of a particular body part was not possible. “As it is, there are many parts but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you” and the head cannot say to the feet “I have no need of you.” Paul argues that just like the body, God has put life and churches together in such a way that we must care for one another. If one part of the church suffers, the whole church body suffers. If one part rejoices, everyone rejoices.

I am arguing that this model is the model for the world. The proposal is simple. We must stop seeing those who are different as enemies or aliens. In our “one world” reality, we desperately need one another. We must put away forever the idea that people who are not like us can be targets for killing, for sanctions, or for any other action of rejection. Like it or not, we are a part of one another. Where we find suffering, we all suffer. When there is rejoicing, we all should rejoice. We are all in the game of life together.

The world is our community.