life in community - more Philippians

We continued this week in Philippians, looking again at Paul's call to unity in the face of suffering (Philippians 1:27-2:2). Paul's call to unity depends on - and can only make sense in the context of - a community of Christians who take seriously their commitments to one another. This line of thinking does not often come automatically to many of us today. We often think of church as yet one more experience we dine on in a society saturated with consumerism. Don't like something or someone? Just leave. There is a buffet of options at hand. Don't want to serve others. Fine, just come and consume without giving any thought to giving of oneself. No one will notice. Don't get me wrong: there are seasons of life when one is less involved in Christian community for good reasons and there are all kinds of good reasons to leave one church community and become a part of another one. But when moving around becomes promiscuous and narcissistic, and casual commitment is a life-style it can mean that one has not understood the grand vision of Christian community laid out in the New Testament.

Rowan Williams talks about Christian community in this way: "Breathing the air of Christ, Christ becoming the 'atmosphere' in which we live - to borrow the language of C.F.D Moule - isn't only about being in a state of peace but about being in what some would call a 'dynamic equilibrium'. Our peace is what it is because it is a flow of unbroken activity, the constant maintenance of relation and growth as we give into each others' lives and receive from each other, so that we advance in trust and confidence with one another and God." He goes on to say: ".... a well functioning Christian community is going to be one in which everyone is working steadily to release the gifts of others..... the gift of each is inseparable from the need of each. The giver has to understand both how the gift is to be given into the common life, and has to be aware of what the common life and the obstinate reality of others must give one's own life to be real and solid.... the solid reality of a really functioning Christian community is like that of a good marriage, in which mutual attention, giving and receiving, enjoying and sacrifice are tightly woven together, as both realize that there is nothing good for one that is not good for both, nothing bad for one that is not bad for both, that fullness of life is necessarily a collaborative thing."

This high view of community is why Paul can talk the way he does in chapter two about making his joy complete. Otherwise, his appeal would sound self-serving and condescending (The notion of an apostle saying "Do this for me!" might also imply a condescending sub-text: "since you damn sure won't do it for yourselves!).

Again, Williams: "The apostle, the public witness of Jesus' resurrection who directs the thoughts and prayers of the church, is the one in whom the porous boundaries of life in Christ are most pronounced, the one who senses most acutely both the joy and the pain of other believers..... Being a Christian.... minister..... isn't about managing religious technology for an uninstructed public but about witnessing to the distinctive character of a common life in which each depends on all".

This robust vision of Christian community then is what must come first before any of Paul's appeals and exhortations can be properly heard, whether in Philippians or in his other letters. Indeed, he indicates as much in his grammar in verse one of chapter two. As New Testament scholar, Gordon Fee, reminds us, the clauses beginning with "if" fit into the overall grammar not as suppositions but as presuppositions of the conditions God has wrought in their midst: "encouragement in Christ", "consolation from love", "sharing in the Spirit", and "compassion and sympathy". The verse could be translated, "since there is encouragement in Christ", etc. So, based on what God has built, a dynamic community in Christ, Paul can say, "make my joy complete - be of one mind" and say it as a member of the community who needs the other as much as he needs himself.

Questions for discussion:

1. A colleague of mine wrote a very thoughtful post in his blog (see below for link) about suffering with others and repenting of our obsession with self-protection. But then he said something quite important about the complexity of living with others in Christian community: "Of course, there would be much to spell out as to what this looks like and how it manifests itself, particularly among those who have been abused (…because self-protection would not only be the wise thing, but the most godly thing to do)." Taking his important point as a jumping off place, I would expand (not that this is novel) and say that healthy boundaries between people are necessary for a community to be healthy. Can you think of examples of how healthy boundaries are important for a community to flourish? How is one to go about caring interdependently while maintaining healthy boundaries?
http://drchuckdegroat.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/theosis-and-neurosis/

2. Can you think of an occasion when someone in your Christian community served you in a profoundly meaningful way? What kind of mark did this leave on you?

3. "Nothing bad for one that is not bad for both, nothing good for one that is not good for both". Do Williams' words (see above for the context) help you think about the foundation, purpose and shape of moral instruction in the church?