[Image: Community, Annapolis, MD 2013, JAVanDevender]
1 Thessalonians 4:9–10 (NKJV)
9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;
Annapolis is a small town with all the attendant charms and irritations that are associated with that status. There are other states where the capitol is dwarfed by other cities in that state (e.g. New York, California, etc.) but I cannot think of another state where the difference is this extreme. I can easily imagine a resident of Annapolis knowing not only every store and buiding in the city, but also being on facial recognition and perhaps first-name basis with most of the owners or workers in them. To those who consider themselves "native" Marylanders, which means family history dating back well before the Revolution, Annapolis is not a town but a "community." There is a sense of settledness, self-identity, humorous tolerance, etc. that characterizes their relations. On the negative side there is that old "them & us" aspect also. If your family didn't arrive until the late 1800's then you're still a "newby" and, well, you know.
That idea of "community", redeemed through Christ, lies at the heart of Christianity and what it means to be a disciple of Christ. When Jesus told Peter that He was going to build His "church", His "ecclesia", on Peter's confession, He meant just that. He was going to build a unified community, a group, a cohesive clan, a fellowship, a distinct people, a family bound together by bands stronger than steel and more intense than biological family relations. The Church was to be a group of people who existed in "brotherly love" (as with the Thessalonians above) and whose "fellowship" (koinonia) was one of the strongest attractions to their Pagan neighbors. It was the witness of the "community" comprising its distinct morality, its internal affection, its selfless and spontaneous good works, and the egalitarian respect shown to its members, that so distinguished it from the prideful patronage lying at the heart of the Roman social order and was the basis of its appeal. The Church prospered, even under persecution, not first and foremost because of its doctrine, but because of the highly attractive witness of its community which brought people through the door to where the Word could be heard.
Over the years I have realized just how far my own experience had been removed from this ideal. I was a product of my culture rather than the Scriptures, especially when it came to religion. Revivalist mentality had communicated to me that the essence of Christianity was private spirituality. But as I began more and more to study God's Word and to teach it, I began to see just how differently Scripture presents the Kingdom of Christ. It is, foot to scalp, a community. Christ came to save a people not individuals, one at a time. The Exodus was for an entire nation. John's revelation speaks of myriads of men and women, all united together and dressed in the same white robes. Heaven is a community and brotherly love here is a down payment on what we will have there.
Community doesn't come easy in our culture though. It didn't come easy in ancient Rome either. But, through God's leading and provision of Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers, community was formed and the world was changed.
That's what we need to be building now. Separate communities of God's people, who live distinctly different lives frorm the world around us, and nowhere more distinct than the way we honor, love and serve each other, with Christ as our head.
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