The Necessity of Community
One of the factors that influences me to believe that God is right when
He commands us to adopt vulnerable persons - as the priority much
higher than reproducing - is that adoption of vulnerable people
requires us to be in cooperation with a very real community of faith.
To successfully care for vulnerable persons, we must have people
around us who are at least as powerful in prayer as ourselves. We
must have people around us who have talents, skills and graces that
we do not possess. We must be engaged in a community of care and
commitment who can support us and to whom we can lend support
so that those vulnerable persons for whom we all care can be enabled
to be adoptive in imitation of God.
Find God's commandment that we must adopt each other and then
adopt other vulnerable people - in imitation of Christ Jesus - in
John 13:34
Through communal adoption of vulnerable persons and through
mutual support and forgiveness of each other, through commitment
and accountability to each other, we are granted a glimpse of the
Kingdom of Heaven and we are given a means to imitate God.
Elsewhere, I will write about why I believe that living in communities
of reconciliation is a means of living out the image of God in us. And
while I very much appreciate individual initiative, I am convinced
that communities of reconciliation are part of the only hope for the
human race. You cannot and I cannot do this by ourselves.
The idea of an individual 'Superman' to solve human problems is a
delightful fantasy. However, history's only REAL superman - the very
human but divine Jesus of Nazareth - lived and served in community
and imparted to us His 'super-powers': submission to and relationship
with the One God Eternal through the Holy Spirit. History might be
entirely unaware of Jesus of Nazareth had He not lived and served in
community with those who were willing to claim each other - and
claim still other vulnerable persons - in a community of faith.
To God be all praise, honor and glory, forever and forever.
He commands us to adopt vulnerable persons - as the priority much
higher than reproducing - is that adoption of vulnerable people
requires us to be in cooperation with a very real community of faith.
To successfully care for vulnerable persons, we must have people
around us who are at least as powerful in prayer as ourselves. We
must have people around us who have talents, skills and graces that
we do not possess. We must be engaged in a community of care and
commitment who can support us and to whom we can lend support
so that those vulnerable persons for whom we all care can be enabled
to be adoptive in imitation of God.
Find God's commandment that we must adopt each other and then
adopt other vulnerable people - in imitation of Christ Jesus - in
John 13:34
Through communal adoption of vulnerable persons and through
mutual support and forgiveness of each other, through commitment
and accountability to each other, we are granted a glimpse of the
Kingdom of Heaven and we are given a means to imitate God.
Elsewhere, I will write about why I believe that living in communities
of reconciliation is a means of living out the image of God in us. And
while I very much appreciate individual initiative, I am convinced
that communities of reconciliation are part of the only hope for the
human race. You cannot and I cannot do this by ourselves.
The idea of an individual 'Superman' to solve human problems is a
delightful fantasy. However, history's only REAL superman - the very
human but divine Jesus of Nazareth - lived and served in community
and imparted to us His 'super-powers': submission to and relationship
with the One God Eternal through the Holy Spirit. History might be
entirely unaware of Jesus of Nazareth had He not lived and served in
community with those who were willing to claim each other - and
claim still other vulnerable persons - in a community of faith.
To God be all praise, honor and glory, forever and forever.
posted by Tom ta tum Tom | 3:59 PM
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