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Establishing a New Form of Community
The spiritual life cannot be lived in isolation. Jesus gathered what can only be described as a motley crew of people around himself. It was an unlikely cohort of individuals that included a (despised?) tax collector, a political zealot, four fishermen, religious idealists, unknowns, women of means, friends and someone who would eventually betray him to his political enemies. He demonstrated to them a new way of living and relating to others. He taught them deep and effective ways of praying and taking hold of the power of the Spirit of God. He modeled the way of justice and mercy. And he insisted that those who followed him should live the same way and treat each other and those outside the circle of believers as he had treated them. It is one thing to preach a certain way of life, and another thing to live it out effectively. The work of repentance and personal transformation that Jesus modeled, taught and lived is hard. Nothing about it is easy, although it is all based upon what is most naturally placed within our hearts and minds. Everything we need to know about how to live we can learn from children, Jesus observed. But society, empire, family, and even religion can beat and contort our lives so much that we need to completely relearn a way of thinking and acting that is life-giving and that has at its center the promotion of the well-being of others. |
The Spiritual Disciplines of Jesus |
Because it involves the reordering of our lives, as well as the reprogramming of our ways of thinking, it is not something that we can undertake on our own. The change of life that the spiritual path entails is so radically different from the way human societies operate that alternate social systems or groups are needed in order to provide support, guidance and wisdom to those who seek that path. Jesus gathered people around himself and strove to establish the sort of supportive community that would enable his teachings not only to be remembered and passed along to subsequent generations, but more importantly, to be cultivated, practiced and lived out by those who followed in his path
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Jesus did not simply provide a critique about the failings of the social systems he found around himself – he showed people an alternative way to live and be. At its best, the Christian community is just such a community of love, justice, mercy and compassion in the world. It has not always been able to achieve this, but it is certainly motivated by these concerns when it follows most closely the life example and teachings of the Savior it proclaims. In order to adopt this new way of being and acting in the world, we need to have the support of like-minded people who will assist us in our journey. Because we are formed as persons through our interactions with other persons, it is vital to be in a community that not only supports but also actively works to reinforce the development of the highest ideals and standards of behavior and treatment of others. Being in the new community of Jesus Christ we not only learn the content of faith, but we practice the ways of living it out in our daily lives. This is what Jesus meant when he talked about the ekklesia, or church. The ekklesia is that community of people who were called out (the root meaning of the Greek word) from the social and cultural systems of their time and who were shown a new way, the Way of Love.
This is still true today. What the church provides is the laboratory wherein the gold of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is refined in the crucible of human hearts. The content of faith is shared and the life it espouses is experimented with and finally embraced. In this process we are formed by the Spirit of God and our minds and lives are transformed according to the heart of Jesus.
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Jesus did not simply provide a critique about the failings of the social systems he found around himself – he showed people an alternative way to live and be. At its best, the Christian community is just such a community of love, justice, mercy and compassion in the world. It has not always been able to achieve this, but it is certainly motivated by these concerns when it follows most closely the life example and teachings of the Savior it proclaims. In order to adopt this new way of being and acting in the world, we need to have the support of like-minded people who will assist us in our journey. Because we are formed as persons through our interactions with other persons, it is vital to be in a community that not only supports but also actively works to reinforce the development of the highest ideals and standards of behavior and treatment of others. Being in the new community of Jesus Christ we not only learn the content of faith, but we practice the ways of living it out in our daily lives. This is what Jesus meant when he talked about the ekklesia, or church. The ekklesia is that community of people who were called out (the root meaning of the Greek word) from the social and cultural systems of their time and who were shown a new way, the Way of Love.
This is still true today. What the church provides is the laboratory wherein the gold of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is refined in the crucible of human hearts. The content of faith is shared and the life it espouses is experimented with and finally embraced. In this process we are formed by the Spirit of God and our minds and lives are transformed according to the heart of Jesus.
Click on the images below to read about JP21-BiggerMind; JP21-Bigger Heart; JP21-Bigger World; JP21-Bigger Life; JP21-Way of Ways.
