Community Meeting
July 20, 2006
http://www.logoscommunities.org\communityblog
Stacy spoke of the book Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (clips of which are posted on the blog)
He was a theologen during the holocaust. He practiced what he preached as a seminary professor and a pacifist. He actually had the chance to take down Hitler and placed a bomb which didn’t go off. This caused internal conflict that lead to him becoming a pacifist. He started an underground school after a visit to Harlem, NY. He returned to Germany and wrote about cheap grace. Just before Hitler’s death, his family was caught and Dietrich died in a concentration camp.
In Life Together:
“Physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength”
Jesus’ hommies were also called his disciples.
“If you can’t be alone with yourself, you don’t need to be in community.” –Stacy
Being a ministry to each other about the hard things is very essential. We need to consider the cost of community INTENTIONALY.
The graces needed for community are grounded in scripture.
“Christianity means community through JC and in JC. No Christian community is more or less than this.” (p.21)
“It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemied of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commiossion, his work. ‘The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but with the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?’ (Luther)”
The demands of the gospel are high – the kingdom means to sit among enemies not friends. Grace is free but it cost Jesus his life. It is free not cheap.
“For us to hear the gospel, someone gave his life” – Bonhoeffer
“Costs everything but it is the source of all healing and fulfillment” – Nick
The central point of the cross is not just salvation but also self-sacrifice. It is the mark of the lifestyle of Christians.
Jen: If someone didn’t believe in me and wanted to kill me, I would talk my way out of it. But the hard part would be my uncertainty about God’s will for my life”
Will of God – the way scripture and community speaks
For example, when Steven spoke, the people would clench their teeth. For the first generation of believers, to confess in Christ meant death. Even then, Christians were known by their hospitality.
For us in this “post modern” life, we make a system and then live on auto pilot. We have “modern” inheritance.
Just as each relationship is unique, each mix of people will be unique. So now we are slowing down, and sniffing each other like dogs. (Its important to get to know each other.
Moving towards action:
We would be seen as a church plant of Ecclesia. We want to dare to dream a different kind of church. We’ve been fed a steady, prescribed diet of church services. Even biblical vocabulary has changed so that “worship” means songs. “Church” now means services, buildings and entertainment. Our weekly teaching should be living life together and our praise and worship should be what happens during the day.
Instead of going to church, lets BE the church.
We’ve been really sheltered from the weight of baring the cross. While his yoke is easy and burden is light, we are not void of work. The word discipleship means to apply discipline.
Marriage is hard, the love of it makes it good. You no longer have to do this life alone. Community would be a reflection of that.
In the Next 2 Weeks:
Post on the blog –
· think about community
· give your opinion – what do you think about all this?
· Meet next Thursday and we’ll talk about the bullet points of everyone’s opinions. Eventually, we will form these thoughts into a kind of contract between each other.