I woke up last Wednesday in the middle of the night at my hotel in Nashville to the news that Trump has won the election. I didn’t have any extreme emotions whatsoever because immediately my mind and heart went to the people God has called Paul and I to pastor, love and come alongside at Liberty Church. I placed both hands over my heart and began to ponder – how can we come alongside our people at this time? Father, what does your heart say in this day and age to your people? How can we lead with wisdom, truth and love? How can we create safe spaces for people to be transformed, and then go out and bring transformation as followers of Jesus Christ?
I came home and asked my husband if we could swap our rostered positions this month so I could speak to our church instead of him on Sunday, as I felt I had a word in season for our people. (You can listen to the message here or watch it here – I believe it may really help you.) These last few weeks reminded me that cultivating true community and making disciples – true followers of Jesus Christ with a free will – isn’t neat and tidy. It’s messy yet beautiful and totally worth it.
True Community WITH Unity Can Be Messy
Pastor Cedric speaking with my husband Paul
Pastor Cedric C. Johnson, a good friend of my husband’s who also wrote a book entitled, Race, Religion, and Resilience in the Neoliberal Age (Black Religion/Womanist Thought/Social Justice), came and spoke alongside my husband Paul at our “Race, Justice and Unity, A Liberty Family Conversation” that we hosted last month. Amongst many other things, he spoke about the four stages to true community.
I will break down these stages in my own words alongside reflections from that evening.
Stage 1: Pseudo Community
Oftentimes, we comfortably and often unknowingly remain at this stage, not letting our guard down with one another, while living internally (and sometimes externally) isolated lives, even when others are physically in our midst. This is where we self-protect and preserve.
Stage 2: Chaos
Chaos is not something we naturally want to embrace. The moments, seasons, interactions or world events that bring chaos in our lives, cause our guards to come down with one another while exposing the state of our hearts. These are the moments where our beliefs are exposed and confronted. Where disunity is seen, felt, and wrestled with. These are the times when relationships are tested and solidified, or tested and broken down. These are the moments where our bias and pre-conceived ideas are often brought into question by someone else’s point of view. These moments, seasons and interactions can cause us to look at our own hearts and search them in partnership with Father God, or they can cause us to abort mission and go back into self-protection mode. Often in a church setting, this causes us to either put our roots down, look each other in the eye and build together with an understanding that every life is in desperate need of God’s grace and that we’re all on a steep learning curve, OR it can cause us to go and look elsewhere for another imperfect church.
Stage 3: Emptying
This is where we arrive at relationship with no agenda. Where we learn to continuously lay our lives down just as Jesus did (John 15:12-14, Matthew 16:24-25, 1 John 3:16). It’s a place where we come to understand others and not always have the insatiable need to be understood. It requires humility and the ability to let others speak and be heard. It requires confrontation and conversation paired with truth AND love.
Stage 4: True Community
Oh, we say we want the real thing, but the real thing can be messy, just like marriage can be messy and full of chaos. I choose my husband every day, people, just like he chooses me! “In sickness and in health, for richer or poorer…” I once heard Pastor Chris Hodges of Highlands Church in Alabama say, “Love’s not a ditch you fall into; we choose to love one another.” It couldn’t be more true with our neighbor, our community, our spouse, our friends, our kids, and those we don’t understand and even disagree with. The real thing isn’t always nice and neat, but it’s oh so worth it!
The Power of The Table in True Community
The book of Acts is just that – a collective of people not just speaking (a.k.a. just putting quotable quotes on social media without putting their hands to anything) but acting on and doing the good work of the Gospel day in and day out.
I love Acts 2 – specifically the beauty of the Church as she emerged on the earth after Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father and sent the gift of Holy Spirit. The Church that we are all an extension of, playing our part, building together in our unique places and spheres here on the earth. Their devotion, their outright passion, coupled with tangible signs, wonders and miracles following those who believed is confronting. Their hunger to learn and to be together, breaking bread, praying and sacrificing to meet each others needs is inspiring. The sincerity, the joy, the favor and salvation – it is breathtaking! This is HIS Church.
The Fellowship of The Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. – Acts 2:42-47 NIV
This passage mentions breaking bread twice. Why, you ask? Is it because bread is SO good? Well, yes – we all love carbs even if we don’t like to admit it in this gluten-free, Paleo day and age we live in, but beyond that, it’s the picture of the table – the beauty of gathering around a meal while prayer and connection take place, coupled with an excitement to discover more of who Jesus IS in our lives TOGETHER.
I have to imagine that most of these people that we read about in Acts who gathered in the temple courts daily didn’t get to meet or come in contact with Jesus before He ascended to the Father. Because of this, their sheer desperation to devote themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to connect with one another, dig in, learn, grow, and pray together is palpable – it was necessary. They needed each other. And we still need each other.
This Hasn’t Changed.
Connection, chaos, truth, love, a good meal, savoring life and new-found revelation happen at the table. A desire to go out and bring others to the table happens as we discover the joy of coming together in our diversity and differences. It’s at the table where Jesus is the center, leveling the playing field as we empty ourselves to come and hear each other, understand each other, lovingly challenge each other with truth and love, giving our lives to each other. It’s a place where we commune with Him, and with one another. There is so much power at the table. And when we get up from the table it’s then time to put into practice what we’ve talked about. To be doers of the word, not just hearers. It’s time to put our hands to the good work of building together, loving our neighbor, speaking up for injustice and bringing the good news of Jesus love to all we meet.
Remember, love is a choice – it’s not a ditch you fall into. Love requires us to lay down our lives daily. Love doesn’t stop at the table, it moves us to action. Where there is new understanding, there is also new responsibility.