Imagine a world with more community

 Today is the second sermon using the theme, “Imagine a world with more…” And we’re really going to engage our imaginations today, because today’s topic is “Imagine a world with more community.” And the community we’re being called to imagine is so radically different from anything most of us have experienced. It’s a challenge to imagine something so new and different; but fortunately, we have scripture to help us.

The culture in which we live today is one that places a high value on self-sufficiency and independence. That seems normal to those of us who grew up in this culture. Individual rights and individual freedom rank supreme…

It seems normal to us, but not every culture is like that. In fact, when it comes to individualism, 21st century American society is the most individualized culture on earth today, and the most individualized culture in the history of humanity. No culture has ever valued individualism and self-sufficiency and personal freedom more than ours.

And we’re becoming even more individualistic with each generation. Among sociologists, one of the most widely read books is Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. It famously talks about how Americans interact socially, using bowling as one example. The number of people who enjoy bowling has stayed about the same over the years, but the number of people who bowl in leagues has declined. More people prefer to bowl on their own now.

And when it comes to religion, more people prefer to do that on their own, too. The authors of that book talk about a person named Sheila, who says she’s religious, but just kind of practices her own type of religion, which she calls “Sheila-ism.” She doesn’t need a church to be religious.

And since the publication of that book, even more people would agree. Because we like to do our own thing, our own way.

Which is probably why this passage from the book of Acts is so jarring. “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”

That was a radical idea in the first century, but it’s almost unthinkable for us today. Every time I read this, the contrast between that community, and the way our life is structured today, hits me.

If any of us were to suddenly find ourselves in that first-century community of disciples, it would be shocking! To us, it would seem that everybody is all up in everybody else’s business. Where’s my freedom? Where’s my right to do what I want to do? Why should I sell my possessions and my goods, and share what I have with my neighbor?

That’s how it was in the early church. But today, many of us don’t even know our neighbors. And we share very little. What’s mine is mine, what’s yours is yours, and there’s a wall right down the middle, separating us. 

A lot of what we do in society is designed to keep us separated and independent. Think about this; in our society, we show our children how much we love them by training them to leave home and be on their own. I even talked in my sermon last week about how important it was to my mom that she teach me and my sisters independence. 

Not every society does that, now, or in the past! In many societies, children are raised in a way that teaches them their responsibility to the family and to their community, and prepares them to do their part and make their contribution for the family. Children aren’t trained to go out on their own; they're trained so they can fulfill their obligation to strengthen their family.

To some of us, that seems stifling. Limiting. 

But in other cultures, a person isn’t fulfilling their own full potential unless they are able to make that contribution, a contribution to their family and their community. In some cultures, people find it hard to imagine why a person would want to be on their own separated from their family and their community.

They might even be horrified. How can one live like that, separated, alone. Lonely. 

And while we might initially balk at a society in which obligation to community is strong and takes precedence over individual rights, many people - even in our individualistic society - long for those kinds of connections.

In 2006, Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice started their first company, SoulCycle, a fitness company that offers indoor cycling and spinning workout classes. SoulCycle became popular and trendy, and opened almost one hundred locations. People identified with SoulCycle, and their branded merchandise became a hot item.

 But Cutler and Rice soon discovered something interesting. 

The people who joined SoulCycle didn’t really know why they were joining. They joined, thinking that they wanted to get in better shape; but it turns out, what they really wanted, was connection. 

That’s why people joined SoulCycle. For connection. For the community.

Cutler and Rice quickly learned that the product they were selling wasn’t fitness. They were selling community.

People long for community. People need community. Even - and perhaps especially - in an individualistic society.

This week, the New York Times published an article about Cutler and Rice, and their brand new company. It’s called Peoplehood. Peoplehood is community, without the bicycles. It’s their fitness sessions, without the fitness Pay a fee, join a community. Have conversations. Connect with people. 

So, despite being radically different from what we know, that strong focus on community that was present among the earliest disciples is something we should pay attention to.

But because it is so radically different, it’s going to require a fair amount of repentance on our part if we want to incorporate some of it into our lives. 

That shouldn’t be surprising. Acts presents this description of community only after presenting Peter’s sermon on repentance: Peter preaches a sermon on repentance, and then we have this community.

Repentance is a word that means to change one’s direction. If you’re going one way, and you repent, suddenly you’re going in a whole new way. If your life is going one way, and you repent, suddenly your life is going in a whole new way.

In the book of Acts, Peter preached a sermon of repentance, and the next thing you know, people are living with such a sense of community, that they are holding all things in common, selling their possessions and goods, and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 

To live like that, we’re going to have to repent. We’re going to have to go in a whole new direction. And that’s going to require us to use our imagination:

Imagine a world with more community.

I learned to take one of my first steps down that path in seminary. It didn’t happen in the classroom; it happened in the on-campus student apartment building.

There, a group of us decided to start eating dinner together. We were eight people from four apartments, some married, some living with roommates. 

Each pair, whether they were married or roommates, chose a night of the week, and on that night, that pair fixed dinner for all eight of us. The night each couple chose was based on what night was easiest for them, given their class and work schedule. 

We did this four nights a week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Ginger and I cooked on Thursday nights, but on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we didn’t have to cook. We just got to enjoy the cooking of our friends.

Now, I admit: when we started, I didn’t think this would last long. I thought the intentions were good, but things were going to get in the way - I was convinced of this.

But I was wrong. Our dinner gatherings lasted for an entire school year. We ate together. We laughed together. We cried together. And our friendships deepened. 

And that helped spark my imagination, of a world with more community.

One day, several in our group decided to get tattoos. I didn’t want a tattoo, so I didn’t get one; but Ginger did!

And then one person in our group, who happened to live in the apartment right below ours, said to us: “OK, tomorrow is my night to cook, and my mom’s in town and will be joining us for dinner… Whatever you do, don’t tell her about the tattoo I just got.” 

So the next night, we went downstairs for dinner, and we weren’t going to say anything. But while we were eating, our friend’s mom noticed one of the tattoos that another person in our group got… his was in a more visible location - and our friend’s mom started talking about how tattoos on a person just give a certain kind of impression, and how she knew her daughter would never get a tattoo, because that’s just not the type of person she is, and on and on…

And we were all dying inside, and trying to hold it all together, and shoving our mouths full of potatoes just to keep from laughing or saying anything.

And through experiences like that, we all became even better friends, and we all knew we had someplace where we belonged, and that we were a part of something bigger than ourselves, even if it was just our little dinner group of eight.

And we experienced a taste of the type of community that scripture calls us to live. It may have just been a small taste - just one step in that direction - but still, it was a step in a different direction from the path of individualism.

Because we made this commitment to come together.

And it helped spark my own imagination on ways that we can grow and build community. You probably have had similar experiences, of being in community, of knowing you were somewhere you belonged, somewhere you could laugh and cry, somewhere where you were wanted and loved, just for being who you were. 

And you found a way to not only be in community, but to contribute to the community, to its success. And you found fulfillment in that.

It’s certainly something we experience here at Bixby Knolls Christian Church. In many ways, we are already a countercultural movement. We embrace and affirm diversity, even when the tendency today is for people to only associate with people who are like them. 

We have chosen to be in relationship with one another, to look out for one another, to pray for and help one another, even in the midst of our highly individualistic society.

We engage in mission together. We share our resources with the congregation, and our congregation in turn shares some of its resources with people and organizations locally and around the world, who provide care and support to people we’ve never even met. That certainly goes against the grain of our individualistic society!

Now, we all contribute to that mission in multiple ways. We contribute financially. We contribute by providing leadership. We contribute by spending time taking care of and improving our building. We contribute by helping to keep our ministry organized. We contribute by praying for our ministry, and for the people with whom we are joined together in ministry.

And we demonstrate this commitment by becoming members - demonstrating our commitment to the way of Christ and to supporting the work of this congregation.

In so many ways, we have committed ourselves to the same path of community that those earliest disciples were on. They may have gone a little farther down that path than we’ve gone, but we’re on the same path, and it’s a path toward community, a path toward friendship, a path toward a society built by love. 

And the lessons we learn by traveling that path - lessons about community and family and faith and love and responsibility - point us toward the kingdom of God that exists among us.