Community

Romans 12:5, “so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

Community is one of three key terms the Holy Spirit is illuminating to me in Him revealing Christ’s perspective on prosperity. Where prosperity is defined by me using scripture as sufficiency in all things and an abundance for good deeds. The other key terms that I am presented with being materialism and redemption.

There are a lot of things that can be considered a community. The neighborhood I live in is a community bonded together by a love of acreage, woods, and wildlife. In fact it’s also a community of people who really don’t like to participate in community, but want enough space between one another that there is no need to be part of someone else’s life.

The Church I attend is a community. Literally it is called Community of Faith, and it is a place that we gather together and celebrate our common bond of faith in Christ, and are common taste in worship and ministry. Oddly enough one of the primary reasons I love it is because it is big enough to get lost in. In other words if you just want to be come and be left alone there are enough people there to hide behind. At the same time you can participate in the community as deeply as you choose as there are limitless opportunities. 

Jim Spivey’s groups Iwo Jim and Love Machine are communities, that like all communities cause people to congregate behind a common idea or desire.

The examples are endless, like the dog club I belong to, or the macro-community of the township I live in. But what is it that God is trying to show me about community? Why is community coming into my heart simultaneously with materialism and redemption as they relate to prosperity?

Rabbi Lapin says prosperous people share a common trait of connective-ness. He further says to increase prosperity you have to increase the number of people you know. I cannot say that I buy into that argument because it sounds an awful lot like some sales training I have received. Lapin says prosperity in part comes from people “knowing you, liking you, and trusting you.” In sales class I was taught to be successful people have to “know you, like you, and you make them money.” But mainly this idea of increased connective-ness irritates my soul because I am generally speaking a loner of sorts.

Lapin says God created a world of binding and connection. Like salt, when there is no connection between the Sodium and Chlorine the individual components are toxic. But connected to gather they form sodium chloride and bring taste to a bland meal, and keeps us from sweating to death.

The apostle Paul talks about the connection of us being one body, “individually members of one another.” I am very comfortable as an individual, but I am very uncomfortable as a “member of one another.” Can’t I just be a toenail in the body of Christ? Someone way out on the extreme with minimal contact or relationship with the rest?

Apparently for me the status quo is no longer quo, and I am a status in transition.

On the surface my disdain for “community” is pretty obvious to me. First and foremost I am not a well-liked person. For sure the people that know me like me, but in general I for some reason offend people. It’s been said my brain does not have a pause button, and that I speak too freely what is on my mind… good, bad, or indifferent. Growing up I was smaller and younger than my classmates. Until I caught up in stature my senior year of High school I was bullied… only to become one myself. For most of my career I was the boss, so no real need to be liked there. Now that I am an Indian and not the Chief I don’t see many lining up to enjoy my loveableness. And in reality I am ok with that. I really don’t need to be liked. And I do not believe God needs me to be liked either. He likes me. My family likes me. And that is probably enough.

So once again I ask myself, why community?

I know that isolation can spiritually kill us when trying to face severe spiritual crisis alone. To have self-imposed seclusion can lead to endless loops of thinking or in extreme cases suicide. From this perspective I see clearly the need for community to experience the murmuration of God and the refreshing of our souls as we see Him work in and through others... even in and through oursleves.

Jim Spivey as a minister can make a plea to a community when he is in need. As well as most of us can do the same whether it be a plea for prayers or help. But other than the beggar and the minister how many can reach out beyond their family into their community to make a plea for financial help? And if you do reach out, how many will run their community off simply by asking or even letting them know your problems? After all… if you are not prosperous then there is a financial and spiritual problem… or is there?

What about a proper perspective on community might cause God’s prosperity to come to the individual? And again I reiterate that this “prosperity” is sufficiency in all things and an abundance for good deeds.

All of which is simply mind games and my attempt to understand “community” for the purpose of achieving prosperity while God is saying this:

In order to realize God’s prosperity materialism must be address, and it is best addressed with giving gifts. However, in order to give gifts one has to also be a member of a “community.” And not just a member, but pay attention to the other members to see what they may need or like in terms of those gifts. If you want the benefit of living in the kingdom of God there is some mysterious need to participate in the kingdom of God, to recognize and be a member of the body of Christ that the Father and His Son love so much collectively and not just the individual parts. 

The short version is as Christians we are all part of the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is saying to me that I am not an individual, but rather “individually a member of one another.”

As much as I would like to isolate myself from the world for all manner of reasons, God’s prosperity (for that matter God’s will) is found in the selfless membership to one another. Oh dear... I feel more surrender coming on.