Radical Community

Today is our first Community Devotion in Philly.  The theme is "Radical Community"

The Roman occupation of Palestine in the 1st Century and following represented Empire at its worst.  Elites had all the power and wealth and lived for status among themselves, flaunting it.  Everything was lived on a quid pro quo basis.  Nothing was given for nothing.  They took all they could from everyone they could, exploiting the masses for personal gain, and a powerful war machine backed them up.
The people were conquered, occupied, exploited and oppressed.  They had no rights.  What they could do once for a sustainable living now no longer sustained them because so much of it was taken to feed the empire machine.  They suffered cruel injustices, had everything they once owned taken away from them and suffered excessive sentences and punishments for "crimes" against the empire.  The people sat in this darkness for generations.  Their king was a vassal of the empire, and their religious leaders were corrupt and in collusion with empire, cheating people out of their ancestral lands and demanding devotion to the Temple cult itself instead of God.

Then came the Teacher.  He represented God as one of the people.  He was a spiritual leader, but not like the corrupted Temple cult leaders of the day.  He did not buy into the empire philosophy, ideology or values.  He taught Agape love (committed action on behalf of the other, even stranger or enemy and especially the most vulnerable).  This was not a quid pro quo arrangement, but rather the self-less, unconditional and even self-sacrificing love of other.  And the teacher did not just teach it.  The teacher commanded it and lived it as a perfect example.  He confronted the false teachers and leaders, and even on a couple of occasions raised an army of followers in front of the empire in a single day, but did not call them to arms.  The teacher taught them a different way, a better way centered in Agape Love.  The teacher's end was predictable.  The corrupt leaders couldn't have this going on.  It threatened their legitimacy, their control over the people, their authenticity and their authority - above all, their profit.  The teacher had made the people realize that the values of empire were not the norm, or good or sustainable or from God.  It was unforgiveable.  They made an example of the teacher.

But for a couple hundred years after, those who followed the teacher directly applied what the teacher taught, commanded and modeled in Agape Love, to life in the world around them.  In the face of empire and its corrupt political and religious leaders, they lived this Radical Love and formed a Radical Community of people who followed the teachings.  They practiced Radical Sharing (Acts 2:43-47) and even Radical Ownership (4:32-35), giving of their abundance for the good of everyone.  They ended poverty among them because of it.  No one had unmet needs.  They also practiced Radical Generosity, in taking care of people who lived far away, even people they had never met (11:27-29).  They practiced Radical Inclusion of women and people of other ethnicities and faith backgrounds (10:9-48), and even included those who were different among the leadership (6:1-7; 7:54-60).  They included even those who were excluded by the old laws over sexual differences (8:26-40).  And they practiced Radical Advocacy, standing with and up for others and lending them their voices and power (9:26-31), which led to Radical Empowerment for some and even Radical Liberation from bondage for others (16:16-24, 27). 

They did all this in the face of empire and its values.  They lived by a different set of rules and values, all based on what the Teacher taught, commanded and modeled for them.  And people noticed the difference, as it was a big difference.  And people wanted to be a part of this, so they came and joined them in living a different way, a better way for the world around them.  And there were problems, to be sure.  They had squabbles and at times failed, but for a few hundred years they actively lived what the teacher taught, commanded and modeled in Agape Love.  This Radical Love brought them to live in Radical Community and it changed the world, or so the chroniclers of the 1st Century wrote about this movement of followers of the Teacher.

I am all about Agape Love.  I believe it is a standard that, in its living creates a better way for the world.  I am all about the Radical Community that can be formed when people live Agape Love together.  I believe Agape Love brings people together in their common humanity, regardless of their differences of ethnicity, background, sexual orientation, income level, faith practices or non-practices, gender, country of origin, language or anything else.  I believe that when we live active commitment on behalf of the other, even stranger or enemy and especially the most vulnerable among us, we transform the world because we are being transformed by the force of Agape Love.  When we put it out in the world around us, it changes the world around us, the world in which we live.  That is how we create Radical Community that lives a different set of rules and values, even in the face of empire.  Dare to resist the normalcy of Greed, lust for Power, desire for Status and the hatred that keeps them alive.  There is a better way.

Pastor Jamie