Thursday, October 10, 2013

The Road to Redemption: Spiritual Disciplines – Being in Community 1

    I realize that the idea of being in Community as a spiritual discipline might appear to be a bit of a stretch. Spiritual disciplines are supposed to be those endeavors that we undertake which will draw us closer to God. Disciplines such as prayer, service and Sabbath seem to fit the description of a spiritual discipline much better than does being in community. Even so, I believe that being in community is not only a spiritual discipline, but is a discipline which is desperately needed in the culture in which we live. First though let's begin with the basic understanding of community in scripture.

    The idea of community is rooted in creation itself. First, according to the Genesis account, human beings were not some "add-on" to creation, as if creation itself was simply a place for God to put people. Instead human beings were an integral part of the warp and woof of God's creative endeavors. What this means is that we are in "community" or connectedness with every living thing. Second, in the first creation account (Genesis 1), human beings are created as a two-some which tells us that human beings are intended to be linked together. In the second creation account (Genesis 2) the male is made first but it becomes apparent to God that the male is incomplete on his own (ain't that the truth). God then makes all sorts of animals to complete the male, but none suffices. It is not until God makes another human creature, the female, that the male is finished. Again then, scripture at its most basic level reminds us that we are created to be in community.

     The importance of community continues in each of the saga stories of Genesis 3-11. In the Cain and Able story we witness the horrific results of the breaking of community through murder. The image of connectedness is so powerful that the earth itself cries out in pain because of Able's death. In the Noah story we witness God saving representatives of the entire worldly community (Noah's family and the animals) by which God would begin to rebuild creation after human beings had broken community through violence. Finally, in the Tower of Babel story we witness what happens when community believes itself capable of living without a connection with God; they end up doing foolish things. Woven in and through these stories are genealogies which remind us that every generation is connected (in community) with the generations before and after it.

    Community becomes the focal point of the rest of Genesis as well. Once we have left the sagas of Genesis 3-11 we encounter Abram (who later becomes Abraham) and his family. Often we want to speak of Abram as if he was all by himself. We are told however that he was not alone. Though Abram was instructed by God to pick up stakes and go to the land to which God would lead him, the story understands that the community of Abram (Sara, Lot, slaves and animals) were to go as well. In a sense, Abram's family was the first cell in what was to become a multicellular organism called the saved people of God. We know this because in Genesis 12:2 God promises Abram that God will make Abram into a great nation (community); one of the purposes of which was to bless all the other families (communities) of the earth. This promise binds all families of the earth together into a single community of blessing.

    This sense of community is also found at the end of the scriptures in the Book of Revelation. Though Revelation is filled with terror, it is also filled with hope; hope which comes to fruition in renewed community. We first witness the creation of a renewed community in Revelation 7:4 when God places God's seal upon the 144,000 of Israel. This is followed (7:9ff) by a description of a limitless number of people from "every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages" who are singing praises to God. These people represent God's new, redeemed community. Finally at the close of Revelation in Chapters 21 and 22 we read of the new heaven and earth in which humanity lives intimately with God and with a restored creation. This conclusion to the scriptures allows us to see the importance of community in that God will not rest until true community between God, humanity and creation is fully restored.

    

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