John 13:359 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised)
35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’
The love spoken about is love in action, that feeds and includes; the love of neighbour, of your enemy; the love of those who hate and despise you: the love Jesus showed dying on the cross.
Disciples of Jesus are ones who follow this example, who walk in the steps of their teacher whose love includes all and does not exclude any.
It is the Wisdom of Christ that we as people need to embody, the Wisdom that trusts, that gathers and shepherds; that lays a table before her enemies. (Psalm 23).
And this is for everyone, reaching the light that shines in each person, the light that dispels all darkness in all.
We need to lay hold of this truth that, to be followers of Jesus the message is universal and catholic: a message for everyone everywhere and about everything.
Brother Gabriel’s message this morning resulted in lots of discussion especially around the meaning of love within a religious tradition where often the love between the members feels not to be inclusive, where the rituals and rhythms that define the community’s practices turn people away. We are still struggling to understand why people who were so encouraged by our meeting now don’t attend and we are asking if the way we have organized ourselves is excluding them.
Since Jesus’ message was given in the context of the Jewish religion and the Spirit cut the early Christians away from the taboos and rules that defined that community we have the latitude to be what brings life to our times. We have a universal and catholic message and we need to embed it in our culture. Yet the expectation is that a Christian work, and its governance, is either a vestige of a long dead culture and very hierarchical or, for us Independents, depends on a way of doing things that depends on an undefined but expected liturgy, three hymns and a message, and power structure of leadership that looks very similar to the board of directors of a company. We briefly considered the 12 steps program and how it might inform our getting free from the addiction to sin and being church, a mutually supporting and anonymous organisation.
In their list of traditions, AA state,
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.
In his book The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire by Alan Kreider we learn of the early Christains, where habitus means norms, values, attitudes, and behaviours, that Christianity drew people in because of what people saw.
Habitus of the Christians was what pulled outside observers toward this peculiar people and, when contrasted with the habitus of Roman-Hellenistic society, pushed pagans toward the church.
It is common knowledge that the early church grew rapidly, even in the face of suffering. Counterintuitively, it does not appear that fiery preaching or exhortation to convert was the impetus for growth. Rather, it was the very “strange patience” and habitus inculcated during the frequent gatherings of the community that drove the rapid church growth during these centuries. While pagan onlookers were not welcome at most Christian worship services, friends of the Christians “out in the world” could see that these people behaved differently—and in a very attractive way. Believers didn’t necessarily share aggressively much about what their faith entailed, but they certainly lived out visibly what their mysterious faith taught. And the friends and onlookers were drawn to it.
It appears according to Kreider that tasting and seeing the love in the community was what drew people in, not worship or preaching, which they weren’t invited to anyway.
Matthew 7:6New Revised Standard Version, Anglicized tells us
6 ‘Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.
How would this wisdom inform our meetings? Have we made our open meetings an idol? How angry are you feeling now?
I have often wondered if the way God ordained the building and organizing of the temple had a message for us today about how the church should look. I will leave that one with you..
Takeley Chapel 