JAC Online

Love and Life in Community
by Captain Mark Braye

Hanging on the wall of my office is a framed poster I purchased at Ten Thousand Villages entitled “How To Build Community.” A community is illustrated along the four sides of the poster and the centre is filled with community-building sayings: “Turn off your TV,” “Know your neighbors,” Talk to the mail carrier,” along with several others. One of my favoroutie books is about building Christian community: Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

The opening words of Life Together are from Psalm 133: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is for bretheren to dwell together in unity!”^[1] Life Together is a classic text on fostering Christian community. It’s a must read for Christians of all denominations and ages. It’s a commentary on Biblical texts that speaks to communities of faith. It’s a book about relationships; about love; about life. It’s a book about love and life in community.

“Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community,” writes Bonhoeffer, “is more or less than this.”[2]

• Life in community is never easy.
• It takes work.
• It can be complicated.
• It involves conflict.
• Life in community brings ups and downs; good times and bad times; loss; joy; excitement; sorrow; jealousy; anger; sadness; celebration; and happiness.
• Life in community is all around us; we cannot escape it. No one is an island onto themselves.
• Marriage is a form of community. A family is a form of community.
• A circle of friends and a place of work is a form of community.
• A congregation and church/corps family is a form of community.
• Community is all around us.
• The Bible, as Salvationists our only source “of Christian faith and practice,” speaks volumes about community.

The Ten Commandments, as well as being foundational to Judeo-Christian faith and the Scriptures, are, on a simpler level, about community and relationships. Commandments one through four speak to our relationship with God; Commandments five through ten speak to our relationships with others and community. Many Psalms speak of the importance of community. The Prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures spoke and wrote of the importance of justice and helping other members of society. Throughout the Gospels Christ spoke explicitly and implicitly about community and others.

The Apostle John wrote these words in the first letter attributed to him in the New Testament:

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him. And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.[3]

This text is a wonderful passage regarding community. These are challenging words. They’re challenging words for any Christian in any century.

Verse twenty-three sums up the above passage with a theological statement and a practical notion: believe in the name of Jesus Christ and love one another.

Later in the same letter John revisits community reflections and writes:

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.  And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.[4]

Again, challenging words for communities of faith. John is not holding back or sugar coating anything in these passages. He is tying very theological notions to the practicalities of community. Community is important.

Love and life in community is one of the many blessings God has given us. It brings challenges, yes. It also brings joy, love, and peace. We can pray for each other, be a listening ear, and a shoulder to cry on. We can stand with and for others. We can welcome the stranger, love the unlovable, and befriend the friendless in community.

“How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers [and sisters in Christ] live together in harmony!”[5]