Communal Life. - They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. Awe came everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and prossessions and divide them among all according to each one's need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
- Acts 2:42-47 -
Last week, I had an amazing time on Mission Trip with some even more amazing friends. To make it even better we were serving people and an organization that I know & love. An organization we have become friends with. On our way home we stopped in St. Louis to visit a couple of Catholic Worker houses and other similar type community houses. Was interesting and continues to challenge me and raise questions in me of the type of communal life God is calling me to. Anyway after we got back in the car, some of us got to talking about the week of service and about past mission trip experiences to Mississippi. Brother David made mention of how each year after the week of working on mission trip he told himself he would work harder at making this great feeling last longer and this life of serving more a part of his life back home. Each year he noticed he was able to do a better job. After last summer he very actively looked for areas where he could serve within his talents. He started getting somewhat involved with habitat here in Sauk. But his reflection was even though he desires to serve more and he is actually doing it more throughout the year this trip to MS always seems significantly better and more fruitful and useful. Even this most recent one the 5 of us were just rapping up. Those of us in the car that were discussing this starting trying to figure out why the mission trip was better and why it is hard to bring it back home in a sustainable way for an extended period of time.
Discussions lead to the idea that a big difference was who we were serving with. On the mission trip the 5 of us were in a community – we lived, eat, worked, played, & prayed together. We put all the costs of the trip together and split the bill. And in a fairly larger scale that is what we do on the summer mission trip. And I was like wow – this sounds and seems a lot like what the early church looked like. So it would only make sense that as verse 47 says, “praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
It only makes sense that this communal life when tied to service work is so much more enjoyable and attractive. David was trying to serve by himself when he got back home – which I believe is amazing and very commendable – but as we discussed in the car David can’t be the Body of Christ. He is only one part of the Body. And when we live & serve in community we have a much higher chance to become a fuller version of the Body of Christ. And let me tell you Christ is Beautiful. We all have different gifts from God and He distributes them to all of us differently, so that it forces us (or draws us) to form a communal life in order for us to become the Body of Christ.
I love Communal Life and it is true the world needs Communal life, and if we are all aiming at God it may just happen that others will also catch this contagious way to live.
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