Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more of less than this.
[A Christian] needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother's is sure. And that also clarifies the goal of all Christian community: they meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation.
Without Christ we should not know God, we could not call upon him, nor come to him. But without Christ we also could not know our brother, nor could we come to him. The way is blocked by our own ego.
If, before we could know and wish it, we have been chosen and accepted with the whole Church in Jesus Christ, then we also belong to him in eternity with one another. We who live here in fellowship with him will one day be with him in eternal fellowship.
The more we received, the more we were able to give; and the more meager our brotherly love, the less were we living by God's mercy and love.
Not what a man is in himself as a Christian, his spirituality and piety, constitutes the basis of our community. What determines our brotherhood is what that man is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. . . . The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us.
This dismisses the clamorous desire for something more. One who wants more than what Christ has established does not want Christian brotherhood. He is looking for some extraordinary social experience which he has not found elsewhere; he is bringing muddled and impure desires into Christian brotherhood. Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. (pp.271-275)
He is our peace. (Ephesians 2:14)Because of the worship of feeling and desire that I have been exposed to for so long, I am frequently pushed by that "clamorous desire for something more." It comes into just about every area of my life and brings dissatisfaction and worry in its path. It eats away at love, joy, and peace. It continually draws my attention to my pride and my "stomach."
This is no less true as I think about worship services. Rather than enjoying the peace that Christ has brought and looking for his words and his face in the people I worship with, I am often worried about "looking for some extraordinary experience" or simply embracing indifference to worship and fellowship. I have been known to say "It doesn't matter" about Christian fellowship from disappointment and even bitterness.
Neither indifference nor the worship of feeling and desire will cross the bridge of fellowship with other disciples. One dismisses a primary means of God's goodness and grace: other believers. The other dismisses the reason we gather: seeing Christ and him alone. Our relationships and fellowship are subordinate to this one good, this hope, this desire: "Jesus Christ and his work [as] the one and only thing that is vital between us."
Yesterday, I aspired to enter the reality of that fellowship rather than trying to create an ideal of what I think fellowship should be. I sought to pray for others and enjoy what they brought and most of all look for what God was trying to do in our time together. I spent most of my time inviting God to join us and bathe us in his presence, since nothing we do in itself with bring about the change, the desire, the love, nor the peace that we need. The songs, the words, the prayers are all empty without our being immersed in God's presence.
And so it also is with compassion. I find I am easily pulled into thinking that compassion is a lot about what makes me feel good and useful. I use it as a means of self-satisfaction, so that I can push away a number of unpleasant emotions, like guilt or empathy. Compassion is not about having an "extraordinary experience."
Like worship, compassion cannot bring me closer to others in itself. It too needs to be bathed in God's working presence. Only then can it become what it needs to be for me and others I may help: both a "message of salvation" and a "reality in which we may participate."
Lord, deliver me from compassion that seeks to be a "powerful experience" or the tie that binds me to others. It is a means for your grace. It is a place where I may meet you and others who love you. Let me not overvalue or demean this work, Father. Amen.
I want this to be a constant reminder to me: "the more we received, the more we were able to give." A lack of compassion is a lack of reception of God and his work in myself and in others. I see that with service, I need not only to draw close to him myself, but invite his presence into each situation to do as he wills.
