On page 214
Bonhoeffer asks whether visible physical space for proclamation, worship, and
order is enough for the church-community, and the answer is that space is also
required for the daily lives of its members – we must have space to live
together, what he terms elsewhere, life together. (Bonhoeffer’s little
book, Life Together, is highly recommended for individuals, churches,
and small groups. Its patterns and principles apply to all times and places for
they are rooted in Christ and Scripture.)
Jesus’s koinonia
with His disciples reaches into “all areas of life” (page 214), and our entire
lives are to be lived “within the community of disciples.” Bonhoeffer reminds
us that “We belong to Him.” We also belong to one another.
In directing our
attention to Acts 2:42ff and 4:32ff, Bonhoeffer points to the depth of the
visible community.
“They were continually
devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to koinonia, to the breaking
of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). Bonhoeffer notes that community (koinonia)
finds its place between teaching/proclamation and sacrament (the breaking of
bread, the Lord’s Supper). “The community springs ever anew from the word of
proclamation, and continues to find its goal and fulfillment in the Lord’s
Supper” (page 214). Community “begins and ends in worship” (page 215).
“And the
congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of
them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were
common property to them…For there was not a needy person among them” (Acts
4:32, 34).
Bonhoffer
writes, “Even the material things and goods of this life are assigned their
proper priority. Here a perfect community is established freely, joyfully, and
by the power of the Holy Spirit, a community in which ‘there was not a needy
person’” (page 215).
This is a hard
truth for those of us in the West to absorb, most especially for those in North
America. We immediately become defensive and seek to dismantle Bonhoeffer’s call
to obedience to koinonia in Christ. We argue that the early chapters of Acts
portray a special circumstance in Jerusalem in the early days of the Church and
that it is limited to that time and place.
Such argument is
counter to the Nature of Jesus Christ, the One who lives in His Body; He emptied
Himself for us all, and for “our sakes He became poor.” Beyond that, as Paul
demonstrates in 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9, with his incorporation of the
Old Testament, financial and material care for one another is to be found not
only in our immediate setting, but is to extend across national, ethnic, and
social boundaries.
It is a shame
that we have Christians struggling for food, health care, housing, and basic
necessities in our own land, when minutes away are other Christians who have more
than enough, but who live in isolation from their brethren in need. It is a
shame that within congregations our so-called Christian family ties are only to
be found for an hour or two on Sunday or perhaps an hour or two during the
week, beyond that we are strangers…and we certainly want our bank accounts to
be strangers.
Perhaps the greatest
shame is that we are not honest enough to admit our rejection of Scripture, not
honest enough to acknowledge our selfishness, and not truthful enough to say, “Yes,
the Bible does teach that none of us should be in need, but we choose not to obey
that teaching and live in such community in Christ.”
I am ashamed of
my own life as I read Bonhoeffer, the Bible, and write these words. I am a man
under conviction.
Let me point
out, with respect to Acts and 2 Corinthians, that while the local expressions
of koinonia were different, that the underlying principle was the same. In Acts
there was a large community fund from which the needs of those in want were
met. Since this fund included proceeds from the sale of land, we might think of
it as a “superfund.” In Corinth Paul extends the vision of the local church
across the sea to Judea, encouraging the Corinthians to join with the Thessalonians
(who were in poverty) in providing for the Christians in Judea. In doing so,
Paul invokes Israel’s experience with manna in the Wilderness, all of God’s
People are to be provided for – both near and afar. This is what we should
expect from the Body of Christ, this is the Nature of Jesus Christ.
While our local
expressions and methods may be different, the principle and result should be
the same, we are to care for, and serve, one another. We are stewards of
what God has given us, we are not owners.
In the United
Sates, we think we are free, but we are actually prisoners of consumption, of “mine,
mine, mine,” and of isolation from one another, as individuals and as people
groups. When we try to find community we cannot do so, for we have built our
own prisons.
What to do?
It seems to me
that we must begin with an admission of individual and collective guilt. Beyond
that, what can we do but cry out to Jesus Christ to help us and to show us His
Way? Perhaps we could simply ask, “Lord Jesus, teach us Your Way of koinonia,
of loving and caring for one another, of truly living as Your Body on this
earth for the short time we are here. May we love others more today than we did
yesterday, may we give more today – of ourselves and of the resources that You have
given us – than we did yesterday. Teach us, dear Lord Jesus, to be faithful to You
and to others.”
Of course this
takes courage. Courage to cry out to Jesus. Courage to respond to Him. Courage
to give of ourselves and our resources. Courage to be vulnerable. Courage to reach
out to both those we already know, and to those we don’t know. Courage to cross
economic, social, ethnic, racial, and geopolitical divides.
Well, for sure,
in Christ, we can be “strong and very courageous,” trusting in Jesus, always
trusting in Jesus (Joshua 1:6 – 9).
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