Christian community

Lesson 7: Balance and Moderation

Lesson 7: Balance and Moderation

The first thing mentioned by my class in Montgomery County, Maryland was how the Rule mandated treating work tools just as meticulously as worship articles. The group was surprised that a monastic community would think work was as important as worship. One of the members referred to the 31st article that reads, “Regard all utensils […]

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Lesson 6: Humility

Lesson 6: Humility

My first response to Sister Joan remains that she seems to be writing about the self-evident. My second is she confronts exactly what is wrong with our present society. Her take on humility that she designates as the lost virtue is a perfect example. Once you examine what she, Benedict, and Jesus say about humility, […]

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Lesson 5: God’s Presence

Lesson 5: God’s Presence

I really experienced what St. Benedict meant about the importance of conversation in any Christian community while teaching Sunday School last week. I was pointing out how much Luke-Acts associated the Holy Spirit with speaking boldly. A good one-third of this action-packed history, over 300 of its 1000 verses, are speeches. Some participants responded by […]

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Lesson 3: New Models

Lesson 3: New Models

A change seems to have taken place in the relationship between church and society. Although it was long coming, most of us did not pay much attention until the recent presidential campaign. It was taken for granted that church and society had a congenial working relationship. Many even spoke of the church as the cutting edge […]

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Lesson 2: Church Community in History

Lesson 2: Church Community in History

Let’s take a quick look at various kinds of Christian community that have been practiced in our history. Most forms that served well in one period no longer worked in later ones, at least not in their original shapes. Even though I am only capable of offering a rough account, I hope to supply some […]

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Lesson 1: The First Christian Community

Lesson 1: The First Christian Community

A number of my friends are raising questions about Christian community. They are finding our present forms fail to enrich, nourish, or inspire their lives. Many are frustrated after having tried one congregation after another. Our conversations have convinced me that they are not antichurch. They are genuinely seeking to live with integrity in a […]

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Lesson 10: Community

Lesson 10: Community

From the beginning, a critical question has been who speaks for God. God relates to us primarily through words, so determining who is his spokesperson in every situation is pretty important. Sometimes God speaks through one person, the prophets being our prime examples. But an even more significant instance is proclaiming the Gospel to a […]

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Lesson 15: Make a Real, Contemporary Christian Community Your Reference Point

Lesson 15: Make a Real, Contemporary Christian Community Your Reference Point

Boy, this one has some catchy adjectives. We are not to join just any church, but a “real” one that is relevant to the “contemporary” situation. In fact, it replaces “church” with “community,” implying it should not simply be a place where people go to worship but a gathering of persons who interact with one […]

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Lesson 19: A Johannine Church

Lesson 19: A Johannine Church

We always hear we need authority in order to keep unity in the Church. Those making the claim usually mean they have the proper theology to which everyone else must conform. However, this kind of authority has done little to heal the divisions in the Body of Christ and, for the most part, has led […]

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