Has anyone watched the television sitcom, ‘Mom’, with Academy Award winner Alison Janney? She plays a recovering alcohol & drug addict trying to rebuild her life and develop a solid relationship with her grown daughter. In one episode, while her character is on her honeymoon at remote mountain cabin, she desperately needs the support of an AA meeting. Her new husband understands her need and locates a meeting in the closest town. They don’t really know where they’re going as they drive through town searching for the community centre, when Janney’s character suddenly gets excited & starts pointing: “There, over there, stop the car - the group smoking with take-out coffee cups. Those are my people!” She was a different woman after the meeting.
Those attending an AA meeting pretty well anywhere in North America expect to find a warm welcome, the words of the Serenity Prayer, the 12 steps either repeated or prominently posted, the awarding of chips for one day, or 7 days, or 15 years sober, and stunningly honest testimonies received without judgment, all followed by cookies & coffee. Full octane coffee, never decaf. Because these markers identify and define the AA community, regardless of geographic location.
Are we members of only one community? Perhaps the AA attendee leaves the meeting to join his pickleball group at the arena & tomorrow he’ll be among the legions of volunteers at the food bank. Tonight he’ll check in with his online community for interesting news about the actors from ‘The Big Bang Theory’ because he’s a fan. On Sunday, he’ll meet his Lebanese group of recent immigrants for a shawarma lunch after church, because at least 50% of all arabic-speaking newcomers to Canada are among the Christian community.
Communities are everywhere and we use the word liberally. The basic definition of a community is a social, voluntary unit with commonality, such as place, norms, faith, values, customs, interests, heritage or other identity. The word originates with early Latin, at least 1,000 years ago, maybe more, when communitas, meaning ‘public spirit’, referred to a sentiment, a feeling, a sense of unity or camaraderie; it was not a concrete noun. Circa 1400, the word ‘community’ was coming to mean an identifiable, unified group or association, as in, ‘These are my people’. The Latin root, communis generally means ‘common, public, shared by all or many’, but it gets better → communis breaks down into com meaning ‘together’, plus munis, which refers to ‘performing services’. So ‘community’ at its root, truly means a group of people joining together for the common purpose of serving others. Sounds like Church to me!
And why do humans do this?; why do we feel drawn to commune with one another, to share our interests, conversation, activities and the expression of our beliefs? What is the inexplicable force that nudges us to build houses close together and develop settlements and meet like this every week? Well, perhaps we should ask God, and His Son, and His Spirit, our Trinity that lives in perfect complementary community, sharing the same divine nature & universal purpose, yet remaining distinct in their roles and even in their dynamic with each of us. God the Three in One desires us to be one and likewise one with the Trinity. Not sameness – we are not meant to all be the same, how terribly boring! But one in and of community, by the gift & practice of grace, for the living of this life.
The Elders of Zion & Knox have discerned that one of the Core Values of our congregations is Community. And without even realizing the root meaning of the Latin word, the Elders’ conversation when we met back in December for our retreat day, focused on the aspect of service as central to the value of community.
What is it that we value about community? The sense of belonging we find here; the foundational trust among us that we can count on one another to care about us, to respond with support when we have a need. But community is very much about joining together for service, so this is also a place where God’s gifts to each of us may be used & enjoyed as God intended by all of us.
Basically, a church is a volunteer organization – ministers are the hired help and eventually, we pass on through. But the Body of Christ, the church of genuine community in Christ, was here WAY before I showed up and it will be here for always, thanks to the gifts contributed by the members of the community to keep it healthy and serving, to God’s glory and ever-loving delight. Everyone’s gifts are essential or the Body is lacking and may even fail altogether. The apostle Paul says so, and in fact, he makes it a theme throughout his letters to the earliest Christian communities.
One small example: consider for a moment all the volunteer gifts that are essential for this morning to happen. Approaching the door, you walked past the lawn kept in shape by volunteers. We have a greeter handing out bulletins that another volunteer created, searched for a unique artistic cover, then printed & folded. We have a worship service developed & vetted by a volunteer Worship Team and who are planning services weeks into the future. A volunteer proclaimed the Word of God, and other volunteers will collect & record the offering, securing our financial contributions in the bank before we’ve gone home for lunch. Were you hoping for coffee & treats? Our comfortable fellowship will be supported by a volunteer who came early to ready the coffee and set out the goodies. Because we are a Christian community made up of the hands, feet, arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouths in the Body of Christ, sharing gifts for hospitality, creativity, intellect, organization, practicality, warmth, humour, energy and faith in action. We commit to this community because we value our Lord and Saviour Who brings us into, & equips us to serve, in community.
So what was with that bizarre tongue-twister of a reading from Romans?! Who ARE all those people and why should we care? Short answer: we don’t know who they are, and No, they’re meaningless to us. Because that’s not our community. They are deeply important to Paul and to one another. He’s thanking his community and giving a shout-out to those who have been particular personal supports for him, and who have been leaders by example & action in the community, exuding hope and inspiration through some difficult days, we can guess.
This final chapter from Paul is not just a list - not for him. Are your address book entries, or your file of contacts in your phone, merely a list? When you scan down those names and places, are you not flashing through memories & emotions, images of times spent & you can hear the sound of their voice? Look around the room - every face & name brings memories and a sense of comfort, or familiarity, or respect & admiration. It was the same for Paul as he wrote those names almost 2,000 years ago that we still have in our Bibles today.
These are our people. The Christian Community that we value is a continuation of the community that has been valued, blessed, found struggling, equipped and affirmed by God for generations of lists and congregational directories. This is part of the value of community, to learn from & appreciate those who came before, and to prepare future generations for good ministry by the example of right now, everything we do to support one another and to serve Christ’s mission.
God looks around this room and says, ‘These are my people’, a community identified by our love for Christ and by the way our love endeavours to serve God’s glory. Praise be to God, now & always, Amen.