Sunday,
April 25, 1999
Rev. James
A.Todhunter
"ALL THINGS IN COMMON"
ACTS 2:40-47
This picture of the early Christian church that we have just heard is simple and moving. Noteworthy is the description of stewardship in the community: "All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need." Today, with our notions of private property and private lives, few would see this approach as a viable alternative for us here at CCC.
The scripture says, however, they had all things in common. When we use that phrase today, what do we mean? We say we have common interests, backgrounds, lifestyles, social or economic class. Frequently, a young couple planning to get married will stress to me that their love and attraction for one another grows out of the fact that they have so much in common. When people church-shop, it is often to find a group of folks where they feel at home - with much in common. In other words, we often start with who we are, look for the connections, discover what we have in common, and use that to define our community.
But when Christian community uses the phrase "all things in common," I believe it is different. Because of their encounter with the Risen Christ, one of the things the early Christians chose to do was to put all they had in common. What initially attracts us - as friends, neighbors, lovers, or communities - may be what we feel we have in common. But the truth is that we discover our differences sooner or later. Relationships that are defined primarily on the basis of what we have in common eventually struggle. At the same time, what we call common experiences become barriers to the inclusion of others. .
Since the bombing campaign in the Balkans began, our commentators and politicians have been trying to understand the mind of Slobodan Milosevic. What does he and his country have in common with us and other nations? Confusions lead to strategic miscalculations. Who would have thought his purge of Kosovo would have come so fast and with such ferocity? A former diplomat who knows Milosevic says that U.S. officials there used to debate among themselves as to whether the Serb leader was delusional or just evil. They concluded that he was both. His paranoia has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The two murderous teens in Littleton, Colorado, were little understood by their classmates and teachers. Klebold and Harris complained that they were scorned. Others say they aggressively made themselves outsiders, inviting rebuke. It is easy to see the Colorado youth as outside the pale of humanity, and the Serb leader as outside the community of civilized people. Yet in concluding this, we must recognize that we are left with few alternatives, - mounting a bombing campaign and having armed guards in our schools. There are no easy solutions here. And it is important to remember that this early Christian community described in the Book of Acts took its place in a dangerous world. The passage is introduced with Peter’s exhortation to Christians to "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." The Christian church in any age is, and will always be a support community in critical tension with the values and practices of the world.
But secondly, the New Testament community cannot be content with what we have in common - shared values and vision. It is a community devoted to actively breaking down the barriers of separation between people. It is a community devoted to the inclusion of those whose apparent differences from us make it hard for us to see what we have in common. As St. Paul says, Christ has destroyed the dividing wall of hostility that differences generate. On Friday evening, here in this sanctuary, Bishop John Spong was, it seems to me, especially eloquent on this. Jesus’ life is for us a model of someone who refused to submit to the understanding of community as defined by "what we have in common." In Jesus’ day the community excluded Gentiles, Samaritans and women, among others. He lived his conviction that a human community that is exclusive is not a true community in the deepest sense. And he simply went ahead and spoke, related, healed and sat at table with those who had "nothing in common" with him. In our day, as in Jesus’ day, too often our communities are defined as those who are inside, those who are clean (morally and ethically), and those who play by our rules.
Yet for Jesus and the New Testament community, then and now - all human beings are created in the image of God and continue to be loved and sustained by God each moment of their lives. Each human being is a remarkable and beautiful creation. The most important thing we all have in common, is that we are created in the image of God. And if we are able to see each other as created in the image of God, then the differences among us become not barriers, but an invitation to savor and affirm the wonder of God’s creation.
As Julia Jarvis and I and Bishop and Mrs. Spong drove to the restaurant to join some CCC folks for dinner before his talk, I found myself engaging in a process of making connections. I asked, do you know my old Episcopal friend, so-and-so? Why yes, he said, she is a priest in my diocese. And he said, "You went to Union Seminary. Now who was there at that time?" It was a simple, time-honored, very pleasurable way of making connections; connections based on common experiences. We do it all the time, do we not? It helps us to feel like we belong, somewhere and to one another. I hope and expect that connections like these will take place in the small group gatherings.
But as Dr. Spong spoke and responded to questions, I felt myself more deeply aware that such connections only touch the surface. I felt here is a courageous brother in Christ; not simply an outstanding person to look up to (as I surely do), but more than that. For it is not only our created goodness and beauty in the eyes of God, but the experience of God in our lives that can be the binding power among us. St. Paul said simply and passionately that God was in Christ. But if God was in Christ, that is, in Jesus of Nazareth in all his humanity, then God is in you and in me and in that person who is so different, so outside the pale of what we consider human. And it is God’s grace, God in us, that gives us the capacity to love that person, and receive their love in return.
As we go off to our groups this morning, I hope that we will be able to discover old connections previously unknown, celebrate old friendships and look forward to new ones. But also I hope we will discover, in ways great and small, the indwelling presence of God in each of us. As God was in Christ, God is in you. And that is the connection that matters most. AMEN.
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