Community

Below is most of a presentation that Heidi and I are sharing in Coppell tonight.

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“In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” The book of beginnings begins with the pinnacle character and Author of the story. The Great Initiator; the Wind Sender; the Pot Stirrer; the Great Almighty Himself; Elohim, God, the One and Only.

God creates. The word here in the original language of the story is bara. Throughout the first or Old Testament, God is the only one to bara. God creates out of nothing, and God also orders pre-existing chaos. Without hesitation, God jumps into the tohu and bohu; the chaos and waste. God sends His Spirit hovering over the waters of the deep revealing an act of divine expectation; something is happening.

Then, God speaks. At the sound of His voice; by His Word, the universe springs into action: light, sky, land, seas, vegetation, plants, trees, fruit, day, night, fish, birds, livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals. The Psalmist celebrates the creative Word of God by proclaiming: “By the word of the Lord, all the heavens were made, and all their hosts by the breath of his mouth.”

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground...’” God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

How are we to describe this God who is the only one powerful enough to bara, who also exists in some form of Spirit, and yet, by His Word jolts the cosmos into being? How are we to describe this God who describes Himself as “us?” In the book, The Shack, author William P. Young describes God this way: “We are not three gods, and we are not talking about one god with three attitudes, like a man who is a husband, father, and worker. I am one God and I am three persons, and each of the three is fully and entirely the one…If I were simply One God and only One Person, then you would find yourself in this Creation without something wonderful, without something essential even. And I would be utterly other than I am [which is] love and relationship. All love and relationship is possible for you only because it already exists within Me, within God myself. Love is not the limitation; love is the flying. I am love.” Could it be that this Divine Creator; the One who bara(s), sends His Spirit, and crafts the universe by His Word does not just place relationship high on a personal priority list, but actually, exists in perfect, harmonious, and loving community? Could it be that this God is understood as a community of persons revealing the perfect model of loving community? Leonard Allen, author of The Cruciform Church says, “The doctrine of the Trinity is shorthand for God’s relational character. Get rid of the arithmetic. It’s a mystery of God’s nature.”

Therefore, as community, God does what community does, and extends the invitation of community to others. As a result, God forms the apex of His creation. In Chapter 1 of the book of beginnings, God is transcendent, beyond, powerful, distant, holy, and other; however, in Chapter 2, God takes on human forms such as: gardener, sculptor, and surgeon. In Chapter 2, he is imminent, involved, personal, and near. Chapter 2:7 reads, “...then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” So, here, between the accounts from Genesis 1 and 2, we have man described as a “living being,” or in Hebrew, nephish chaya (which is also a descriptor for the animals), and also, as made in the image of God. Interestingly, back in Genesis 1, after God creates male and female in his image, he blesses them, and sends them out to rule.

In their book, Living God’s Love, Gary Holloway and Earl Lavender state, “The creation story in the first three chapters of Genesis reveals humanity’s purpose. After lovingly creating humans in his image, God placed them in a beautiful garden and willingly supplied their every need. He called them to care for the garden, to rule over living things, to multiply and fill the earth, and to exercise dominion—all activities of God himself. Humans were to exercise dominion over the world not in a careless and selfish way, but in the loving, caring way that God rules his world.” In other words, God extended himself in community by creating and entering into relationship with humans. Furthermore, as he had shared community with humanity, in turn, he sent them to share community with creation.

However, community is difficult. Community is costly. Community requires us to lay down our lives for others time and time again. Over the last year or so, Heidi and I have been in consistent prayer for our neighborhood. Can we truly be church planters, and not even know the names of our neighbors? How are we to balance the tension of desiring and expecting the Kingdom of God to break into our town, but not participate with God in breaking into the lives of those we live around? Be careful what you pray for. God listens, and God responds, and with his work comes the call for us to lay down our lives.

Unfortunately, far too frequently, we do not receive, live, or extend community in the way of God. In fact, our story can be found in Chapter 3 of the book of beginnings, because we, too, have chosen our own ways and rejected relationship with God. Too often, we refuse God, the ulimate Hosea to chase after our self-guided Gomer-like lives. But God is too persistent. I guess “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [It] does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth...always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” And so, God, the One who exists as loving community, sends himself into the Garden crying out in search of his beloved: “Where are you?” Amazingly, by the end of the chapter, God becomes a seamstress making garments for the man and his wife.

In Chapter 12 of the book of beginnings, God covenants with his people through a man named Abram. “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” In these three verses, God promises four blessings for Abram: 1) personal blessing (“I will bless you”), 2) universal blessing (“I will make your name great”), 3) the blessing of a child (“I will make of you a great nation”), and 4) the blessing of land (“...to the land that I will show you”) But why? Why these four blessings? “...so that you will be a blessing...[so that] in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

However, as the covenant story continues, the children of Father Abraham find themselves subject to the oppression of a superpower: “Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph...[He] set taskmasters over [the Israelites] to oppress them with forced labor...The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor.” But, remember, “Love never fails.” “After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.”

God remembered his communal covenant with his people. In fact, in Exodus 3:7-9, God told Moses, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey...The cry of the Israelites has now come to me.”

As told in the book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, “God sends a shepherd named Moses to lead them out of Egypt. Moses challenges Pharaoh, they go back and forth over who exactly this God is and why Pharaoh should even listen, and eventually the night comes when they gather up their things and leave Egypt. Three days later the Israelites cross a sea, an event which is later referred to as the baptism of Moses, and on the shore they dance in celebration of their liberation.” (p. 28)

Although this part of the story could be seen as the end, instead, it is actually the beginning...again. Finally, at Mount Sinai, God speaks again. The same book describes the happening this way: “So when Moses tells the people at Sinai to ‘prepare yourselves’ and then leads them out of the camp ‘to meet with God’ this is about way more than a group of wilderness wanderers gathering for a message from the heavens. This is about humanity estranged from its maker. This is about the primal distance that exists between the divine and the human, the gap deep in the soul of humanity. Sinai is an answer to God’s question to Adam, ‘Where are you?’ This moment at Sinai is about the reversal of the consequences of Eden. Sinai is the breaking of the silence. God is near. God is about to speak.”

And, as they were in the beginning, things were good for a while. Israel, the delivered people remembered their God, the One who brought them out of Egypt. However, their journey from Sinai ended up in Jerusalem, and so we fast-forward to King Solomon. At the time, Jerusalem looked a lot like Egypt.

Again, from the same book, “Sinai was a marriage covenant between God and the people, a coming together of the divine and the human. And so the first commandment was that people couldn’t have other lovers. The relationship simply wouldn’t work if they were unfaithful. Solomon’s many wives and his infidelity to God are representative of the infidelity of all the people - they’ve turned from God.” Again, community had been spurned for a self-guided, self-gratifying, and ultimately empty existence. Where does life outside of community end up? Babylon.

My final quote from Jesus Wants to Save Christians, “The Hebrew Scriptures have a very simple and direct message: God always hears the cry of the oppressed; God cares about human suffering and the conditions that cause it. God is searching for a body, a community (emphasis mine) of people to care for the things God cares about. God gives power and blessing so that justice and righteousness will be upheld for those who are denied them. This is what God is like. This is what God is about. This is who God is...At the height of their power, Israel misconstrued God’s blessings as favoritism and entitlement. They became indifferent to God and to their priestly calling to bring liberation to others.” (p. 44) You know, it sounds to me like God called and sent the Israelites to do much of the same things he wanted accomplished at the end of Genesis 1: extend my community to the world as I have extended it to you. Instead, I guess you could say they sat down to dinner with Adam and Eve pulling the fruit off the tree, passing it around to make sure everyone got a bite, and, together, ate to their heart’s content. Welcome to Babylon, or better said, Welcome back to Egypt.

Maybe community doesn’t work. Maybe community makes claims we can’t handle. Maybe community is just too much trouble.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, community is hard work. It’s deeper than saying “hello” at the church potluck, or having a Bible study in your home. While these are important contributors toward community, they fall drastically short of capturing the entire picture.

Thankfully, God does not leave us in Babylon. “[You see], Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatsoever to him.” (Romans 5:6-8) Again, “love never fails,” and God never ceases extending Himself, community, to His Creation.

Now, tonight, God approaches us with the same challenge He presented in the Garden; the same challenge He gave on Sinai; the same challenge He embraced and modeled through death, burial, and resurrection.

“God spoke: ‘Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.’ God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: ‘Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! [Live out my Kingdom inviting others into community with me and each other.’]

This is church. We are not a building. We are not a worship service. We are not a social club. We are not a list of programs. We are not a “safe alternative to the perils of the world.” We are “...a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that [we] may declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once [we] were not a people, but now [we] are the people of God; once [we] had not received mercy, but now [we] have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10) And just like our Father Abraham, we have been sent out by God to extend that mercy to all we come into contact with. We are living in communal covenant relationship with God and each other; a communal covenant relationship where the cries of the oppressed are heard, where the torn are knitted back together; where the rejected find a place; where the broken receive healing; where fallen are helped up; where those on the bottom of the corporate totem pole sit down at the head of the table; where prodigals are rushed to and receivers of a grand “welcome home” parade as fine china comes out of the cabinet, ribeye steak is slapped on the grill, your Momma’s best mashed potato recipe is whipped up, and the wells of Chicken Express sweet tea overflow with no end, because the one that was lost has been found; the one who had left has now returned, and taken a rightful place back in the family. Small group leaders, with the power of the Holy Spirit, you have the opportunity to cultivate such communities; communities of hope, reconciliation, and peace.

Over the past few weeks in our house church, we have been journeying through a series entitled: “Navigating the Suburban Wilderness.” Each week, we are looking at a “toxin” of life in the suburbs, and reflecting upon the way of Jesus and spiritual practices that might challenge and help us in overcoming the toxin. Last week, the toxin was: “What will this relationship do for me?” and the spiritual practice was truly seeking to enter into non-transactional community with others. I know, for me, I, oftentimes, think of what others could be doing for me or Christ Journey or the community, and forget to rest in deep, meaningful relationships void of transactions or expectations. While wrestling with the content of the week, Heidi came to a few intense conclusions about some broken relationships in her life.

Tonight, our task was to share with you a theology of community. As you have noticed by now, our methodology involved narrative, experience, reflection, Scripture, other resources, and pieces from our lives. We could have given you an outline, taken a point-by-point approach, and filled the projector screen with bullet points. Instead, we wanted to sit down with you and talk. You are invited into the grand story of a God who will not back down from redeeming everyone and everything unto Himself; a God who will not back down until community is restored once and for all. However, in addition, you are invited to tell and live such a story: not just when you come together inside this building, but in your living rooms, department meetings, front yards, public parks, and grocery stores...extending community to Coppell and the surrounding cities.

As we conclude our time together, I would like to pray an adaptation of St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer as a blessing over you.

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“We arise tonight through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through the belief in the threeness, through the confession of the oneness of the Creator of Creation. May you arise tomorrow through God’s strength to pilot you: God’s might to uphold you, God’s wisdom to guide you, God’s eye to look before you, God’s ear to hear you, God’s word to speak for you, God’s hand to guard you, God’s way to lie before you, God’s shield to protect you, God’s host to save you from snares of demons, from temptations of vices, from everyone who shall wish you ill, afar and near, alone and in multitude.

Christ to shield you against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding, So that there may come to you abundance of reward. Christ with you, Christ before you, Christ behind you, Christ in you, Christ beneath you, Christ above you, Christ on your right, Christ on your left, Christ when you lie down, Christ when you sit down, Christ when you arise, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of you, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of you, Christ in every eye that sees you, Christ in ever ear that hears you.

We arise tonight through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the threeness, through confession of the oneness of the Creator of Creation. Amen.”