Forming a Community

Whether we like it or not, it seems that a true community is formed by one of two events: (1) some common trauma or disaster that draws people together despite any and all differences among them, or (2) a powerful and common experience of the Spirit of God working among them, melding them together despite all differences.  Nothing else -- family bonds, neighborhood bonds, marriage bonds, etc. - seems to be powerful enough to hold together a community under stress.

I often used to think, when we had weekly prayer meetings in the 70's, that only God's spirit could have drawn together and held together such a diverse group of people who had little or nothing else in common.  But there was such joy flowing out of those prayer meetings, where the Spirit ministered to us individually and as a group, that it overflowed into our daily lives.  When one member of the group had a son or daughter about to be married, all of us came together to prepare the feast.  No one had the money to hire a caterer, so we all worked long hours to have the best spread available.  And the guests all commented about how much fun the community was to be with.  If there was a need, all of us were there to supply the need.  We comforted one another in sorrow and shared in all the joy of each family.  I have never before nor since truly experienced the New Testament church in the same way.

In the aftermath of Katrina, I was in a shelter with 350 people for a week.  Again, we were the most diverse group one could find -- about 100 Mexican laborers with their families, blacks, whites, and everything in between:  old, young, people on meds and slightly out of their minds when their meds ran out; policemen, firemen, those traumatized by the storm, those who had watched loved ones die -- you name it.  That shelter without air, without working toilets, without food or water, without ice, was our common home.  Babies cried from lack of formula and from diaper rash from the heat.  There were no clean diapers, cans of baby powder, or baby wipes.  We all suffered together from the same conditions -- and we all worked together, each one as he was able, to support one another.  There was no "mine" and "yours;" whatever we had, we offered to the others.  We all swept and mopped the floors, picked up the trash, rocked the babies, prayed for help together.  We listened to one another's stories, found something to laugh about, and even "showered" together by standing under the rainspouts the one day we had merciful rain.  That was community at its best; I would not trade that experience for anything.  We were in hell together, but we were together, whether we spoke the same language or not.

When God called the Israelites out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, they all thought they would die at the shore of the Red Sea, with the E. army close behind them.  Once they had crossed over the Sea safely and escaped certain death, a "survival" bond erased all previous differences of opinion --- God had saved them together; together, they would face the next crisis.  And then the desert: no food, no water, no certainty of the next day.  Again and again, God showed them not as individuals, but as a people, that He was with them.  He provided manna, and water, and direction, relief from the heat by day and the cold by night. They learned to function as a people, not as individuals with their own interests.

And then, when the burden of governing so many people weighed Moses down, God sent His Spirit on 70 leaders to help Moses govern.  Now, God was forming the people into a "people," a nation, an "organization" with structure.  They could never have entered the Promised Land and lived in peace with 12 different tribes without both the desert experience and the Spirit of God hovering over them, governing them through a structure of order. 

There was a condition of order and peace, however:  But select capable men from all the people -- men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain -- and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens (Ex. 18:21).

In America, our forefathers also went through a common experience, a common trauma that united them solidly together.  They fled "Egypt" where they were prisoners of corruption, division, lack of freedom to worship freely, and absolute power.  They crossed the "Red Sea," certain of death at every turn, faced the wilderness of danger, lack of food, and uncertainty --- and then the War with Britain.  When they were finally established in safety, they elected capable men, trustworthy men who hated dishonest gain, men who had the Spirit of God in them, and settled down united both by trauma and the Spirit. 

What has happened today?  We have certainly lost men who seek the Spirit of God as their source of governance; we have lost our common experience of trauma and near-death and coming out of it safely together.  We are no longer a community.  But it seems that we will learn again -- through hurricanes, through drought and food shortages, through fires and floods -- to be a community.  Now, if only the Spirit of God would raise up for us once again men who have been annointed to serve and who do so under God!