...All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. - Acts 2:44-47
Good morning. Some years ago my church established a relief fund to support one of our members who could not work while undergoing intensive treatment for cancer. Our church also felt that the fund required a name before fundraising could begin. With the help of the Spirit and much prayer, the fund eventually took its name and mission from Acts 2 where the early church endured every kind of persecution and disease by coming together not holding anything back from one another.
Since its creation, the Acts 2 fund has evolved to relieve a variety of burdens weighing down the body of believers. Whether it be helping with medical bills, funeral expenses, or food assistance; the Acts 2 fund continues to bare powerful witness to what a group of imperfect people can survive and accomplish when they commit to one another. While relief funds like the Acts 2:44 fund are critical to creating and maintaining the spirit of community, I want to suggest this morning that community is more than spirit.
Yes, I propose that there exists an anatomical component to the kind of community we read about in Acts 2. You see though the believers in Acts 2 most certainly knew that community was a feeling, they also understood that true community that needed to be something they could reach out and touch. Despite their efforts to experience community in worship and service, most American churches and their congregations seem disinterested in coming together geographically.
The church to which I am committed represents is a example of the indifference to proximity that pervades in most churches in America. The vast majority of members live several miles outside the neighborhood where our church is located. And beyond living in a different neighborhood, there are a handful of members who live in a different STATE. Depending on distance and traffic, I would estimate that the average DRIVE-time for members at my church is approximately 20 minutes.
If it sounds like I'm being judgmental, let me say that I completely understand and totally respect the unique factors and needs each family must take into consideration when deciding where to live. If you're parents were like mine, then you obviously want your family to live in a neighborhood with great schools even if it means you have to drive farther for work or church. If you don't have kids, then perhaps you either want to live close to work or near family. Not that there is necessarily an answer to such a question, but why is it among all the considerations of moving that the location of one's church often ranks last?
Now if you were to ask me to define what I meant by choosing to LIVE in the community where your church is located, then I would employ the concept of WALKING-distance as my measure. For those Millennials who've never heard the term, walking-distance indicates the area and time needed to reach a particular destination. Depending on one's fitness, I would guess that walking-distances covers any distance that can be reached on foot within 30 to 45 minutes.
As for those justifiable concerns surrounding schools, work, and family; is it possible that all such concerns could resolved if a family chose to live in walking-distance to their church? Could not families of a neighborhood church organize some kind of home-school co-op that ensured every child received a great education? I propose such a idea if only to keep one from dismissing the prospect of living in their church's neighborhood as impractical.
For there is no mystery to the ever growing hateful division and violent discord consuming our communities. Whether it be the interstates that take us away or the locked gates that keep others at bay, we are cut off from one another. Few remember each other's name let alone remember each other's pain. We know not the answers to the conflicts that confront us because we simply don't know each other. And what better why to show a community that you love them than to LIVE among them?
So this week I don't suspect anyone will put out a for-sale sign and move near their particular church. Regardless of how it happens, may the American church strive to move beyond being symbolic places and occupy concrete spaces. May the American church work to shift from constructing clever metaphors and start building real conversations. And though the figurative has its charm, may the American church come to know the perpetual beauty that awaits when community is literal.
CJE