Archive for the ‘Community’ Category
Tuesday, November 30th, 2004
Each one of you is part of the body of Christ, and you were chosen to live together in peace.
Colossians 3:15 (CEV)
How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God’s people to live together in harmony!
Psalm 133:1 (TEV)
Rick Warren in this chapter gives us a list of the benefits of living in ‘real fellowship’. We’re able to experience authenticity, mutuality, sympathy, and mercy.
So why does Rick have to lay these out like he does? Because many of his readers, including me, have had too many tastes of pseudo community. Fake community where we’ve said ‘we share a common life’ but haven’t in fact lived it out. In many cases we haven’t even got close enough with each other to fall out. In others we’ve got so entangled with other members of the Christian community that it’s been hard to recognise our genuine selves. In too many cases our experience of Christian community has been dominated by the dysfunction of leaders or community members. And we’ve met up with people who lack the grace to show sympathy and mercy when we’ve suffered or fallen.
So Rick paints again the vision of what it could and should be like.
It’s interesting that Rick writes this chapter with the small group in mind. He’s not talking about the shallow fellowship experienced after celebratory worship services. He’s not talking about the comaradarie experienced in enduring committee meetings together. He’s talking about groups in which people are vulnerable with one another and are committed to one another.
When I think of the small group communities I’ve experienced positively, I think of cell groups at University. I was a member of a TSCF cell group at Knox College, Dunedin at a point in which I was experiencing the breakdown of my fundamentalism and the development of a fresh approach to Christian faith. My emergence with an ongoing faith is indebted to my fellow small group members who showed authenticity, mutuality, sympathy and mercy. I still need that kind of community around me.
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Thursday, October 14th, 2004
You are citizens of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and
you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.
Ephesians 2:19 b (Living Bible)
It’s been a while since I’ve been reading this book. I took a 3 month break while I was superintendent minister at Albert St Uniting in Brisbane. There just wasn’t time for blogging.
But now I’m back.
As a family we’ve been working on the paperwork for citizenship of Australia. We’re permanent residents but have discovered that citizenship makes life a bit easier. We’ll be able to keep our NZ passports alongside the Australian passports. I’m looking forward to being able to vote in the next federal election in 3 years time!
Citizenship is but one of the metaphors used in today’s reading about belonging in the people of God. There’s the usual family membership, and being a part of the body (member or organ as in arm or lung or whatever).
Rick Warren gives us a few reasons why we need to belong to a local church family, each with a verse from the Bible to show its an offering from the Bible:
A church family identifies you as a genuine believer
A church family moves you out of self-centred isolation
A church family helps you develop spiritual muscle
The Body of Christ needs you
You will share in Christ’s mission in the world
A church family will keep you from backsliding
I like the reminder that we’re called to love imperfect sinners, just as God does. We’re called to love real people, not ideal people.
This is all very relevant to us at the moment - we’re in the middle of starting up a Sunday afternoon house church. The people we’re inviting have been or are on the fringes of the church. We’ve got to have some strong motivation beyond obligation and loyalty because clearly those factors have worn out for many of our friends.
Rick Warren’s question to consider:
Does my level of involvement in my local church demonstrate that I love and am committed to God’s family?
Yes. My commitment to God’s family goes way beyond the local church. The bottom line, though, is the local people right here who don’t always match up with the ideals I hold in my head!
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Saturday, June 26th, 2004
“No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”
1 Corinthians 13:3b (The Message)
Rick Warren lays it on the line today: Life is all about relationships. Everything else is secondary. The two big mandates given by God - love God and love others as we love ourselves.
And the challenge for followers of Jesus? Loving his people.
Life without love is really worthless.
This is where the quote above comes in. You can be great at anything, but without love you are nothing. Larry Norman picked that up in his song, Righteous Rocker, way back in the 1970s. Lauryn Hill did in the 1990s.
Love will last forever.
Love leaves a legacy. Rick talks about being at the bedside of people as they die. They don’t call for their diplomas, they call for the ones they love. I’ve seen that too. But I’ve seen people dying who have during their lives have lost the capacity to love and be loved. It is tragic. There is so much truth in the catch cry of Moulin Rouge: The greatest thing is to love and to be loved in return.
We will be evaluated on our love.
This is a challenge. We don’t take our bodies, achievements, doctrine or education beyond death. It all gets left behind. It is our character that marks us as who we are. And that character is almost entirely to do with how we relate to other people. True, true.
The best expression of love is time - focused attention, Rick says. I wonder how that relates to the five languages of love: quality time, gifts, loving touch, affirmation, practical service. Rick tells us that what really counts is what we give of ourselves.
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