Beyond me spirituality...into the transformational interaction of communal holiness…Ron Cole
2006-03-01 @ 13:13:52
The isolated individual is not a real person. A real person is one who lives in and for others. And the more personal relationships we form with others, the more we truly realize ourselves as persons. It has even been said that there can be no true person unless there are two, entering into communication with one another.
This idea of openness to others could be summed up under the word love. By love, I don’t mean merely an emotional feeling, but a fundamental attitude. In its deepest sense, love is the life, the energy, of God in us. We are not truly personal as long as we are turned in on ourselves, isolated from others. We only become personal if we face other persons, and relate to them...Kallistos Ware.
A communal spirit blooms where people are deeply in touch with one another, thriving because of the faithful interaction with one another. Outwardly, members of a community may have little in common. Inwardly, they can be touched by the possibility that they have something to learn from each other. Broad friendship, mutuality of purpose and an abiding care for one another are all by-products of a spiritually grounded community that is working together. The way in which members of a community reproduce the love of God through genuine hospitality and a love for one another will indicate whether they are indeed the body of Christ or simply a religious club.
Holiness is born out of communities, not solitary lives. Helping people invest their lives and confidence in one another for the sake of a common dream and a shared mission is a tall order. But the gospel itself provides continuous cues for demonstrating how people who are very different can be drawn together to appreciate one another.
John Courtney Murray once described the early church as a "conspiracy." By that he meant that ancient believers "breathed together" (con: "with," and spire: "breath"). It wasn't sinister behavior, of course, that held these Christians together. It was their shared sense of grace, their breathing together as the people of God. The contemporary church has exactly this same potential and same requirement. Effective communities will be God's people breathing together, modeling a common way of life that is good for the world.
A people who breathe together can afford to be diverse. Uniformity does not constitute biblical community. If anything, it threatens it. Henri Nouwen coined the all-important definition of community as "that place where the person you least want to live with always lives." A resurrection-minded community will not emerge so long as individuals are busy surrounding themselves with only those people with whom they wish to live. Great communities form where people with a dizzying variety of backgrounds and experiences take an interest in the mystery and the mess of each other's lives.
Finding one's place in the fullness of this kind of spiritual community is a matter of what Murray labeled for another realm "give and take . . . movement and color . . . walking quickly [and] walking slowly." Communal life is a colorful and complex walk of togetherness.
This idea of openness to others could be summed up under the word love. By love, I don’t mean merely an emotional feeling, but a fundamental attitude. In its deepest sense, love is the life, the energy, of God in us. We are not truly personal as long as we are turned in on ourselves, isolated from others. We only become personal if we face other persons, and relate to them...Kallistos Ware.
A communal spirit blooms where people are deeply in touch with one another, thriving because of the faithful interaction with one another. Outwardly, members of a community may have little in common. Inwardly, they can be touched by the possibility that they have something to learn from each other. Broad friendship, mutuality of purpose and an abiding care for one another are all by-products of a spiritually grounded community that is working together. The way in which members of a community reproduce the love of God through genuine hospitality and a love for one another will indicate whether they are indeed the body of Christ or simply a religious club.
Holiness is born out of communities, not solitary lives. Helping people invest their lives and confidence in one another for the sake of a common dream and a shared mission is a tall order. But the gospel itself provides continuous cues for demonstrating how people who are very different can be drawn together to appreciate one another.
John Courtney Murray once described the early church as a "conspiracy." By that he meant that ancient believers "breathed together" (con: "with," and spire: "breath"). It wasn't sinister behavior, of course, that held these Christians together. It was their shared sense of grace, their breathing together as the people of God. The contemporary church has exactly this same potential and same requirement. Effective communities will be God's people breathing together, modeling a common way of life that is good for the world.
A people who breathe together can afford to be diverse. Uniformity does not constitute biblical community. If anything, it threatens it. Henri Nouwen coined the all-important definition of community as "that place where the person you least want to live with always lives." A resurrection-minded community will not emerge so long as individuals are busy surrounding themselves with only those people with whom they wish to live. Great communities form where people with a dizzying variety of backgrounds and experiences take an interest in the mystery and the mess of each other's lives.
Finding one's place in the fullness of this kind of spiritual community is a matter of what Murray labeled for another realm "give and take . . . movement and color . . . walking quickly [and] walking slowly." Communal life is a colorful and complex walk of togetherness.