Community
Like Christ, "Christians belong not in the seclusion of a cloistered life, but in the midst of enemies. There they find their mission, their work." "The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer. Being able to be in some kind of community of Christians is nothing but grace.
"Christian community means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. … We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ." What does that mean?
121109
- Christian needs others for the sake of Jesus Christ. God put the living Word into the mouths of humans. Therefore, Christians need others to speak God's Word to them. The goal of call Christian community is to encounter one another as bringers of the message of salvation.
- A Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. It is only in Jesus Christ that are one and are bound together.
- From eternity we have been chased in Jesus Christ, accepted in time, and united for eternity. We will be bound to other Christians eternally with them in Jesus Christ.
Two things are essential for understanding a Christian community.
- Christian community is not an idea. but a divine reality. If we come to community with our own idealized idea of what it should be, disillusionment will surely set in and can destroy the community. "Christian community is not an ideal we have to realize, but a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate."
- Christian community is a spiritual and not a psychic reality. The basis of a Christian community is truth; the basis of an emotional community is desire.
121112
Any attempt at exclusion is a danger to a Christian community. We have access to one another, joy in one another, community with one another through Christ alone.