Cliff Loesch June 22, 2008 Our Search for Community Matthew 10:24-39        When you stand in line to ride a roller coaster, you're standing there, usually, with a small group of friends or family-but also with a whole lot of strangers.  When you step into the cars and get strapped in, the whole group-strangers and friends-actually becomes a little community.  Your futures-at least for the next few minutes-are intricately woven together.  In unity you sense the anticipation as the cars slowly make their way up the first steep incline.  And then as the roller coaster careens down the first hill and then twists and turns in all different directions-you all experience these things together.  Where everyone else goes, you go.  Your destinies are in sync for the moment.  And even your perceptions of the twists and turns and G-forces are similar.  You hear others scream and yell-and you can relate.  You know what they're going through.  You can empathize.  You understand.  In fact, you might be screaming and yelling, yourself.  As you experience all these things together it's possible, even, to feel a sense of solidarity with this little community you've joined.  But this is a temporary community.  The ride comes to a stop, the cars open up, and you get out.  Now you focus your attention on the people you came with.  All the others are strangers again.  This particular little community has come to an end.  It was temporary, of course.  And as far as community goes-this community was not exactly very deep.        In Matthew 10, Jesus said, "A disciple is not above the teacher" and that "it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher."  He went on to say, "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!"  One thing I believe Jesus is saying in this passage is that if we choose to follow him then our destinies are tied together.  Jesus is saying that if we are his followers-and if there are people out there who say bad things about him then it's not likely that they will take a kind view toward his followers.  We'll all get lumped into the same category.  He says if they are calling me the master of the house of Beelzebul (which was a way of calling him a devil) then they'll probably think of even worse things to call you.        So by choosing to follow, our destinies are tied together.  And it might be a bumpy ride at times with twists and turns and surprises and some unsettling things.  But we're in it together-with Christ.  For me, the thought of being in community with Christ is good news.  Even if the ride gets bumpy it is still the best place to be.  After all, people actually choose to get on roller coasters knowing what they're in for.  And they think it's fun.  I think it's fun.  (Or at least, I used to think roller coasters were fun.)  But with Christ, instead of a temporary community of strangers like in the roller coaster where the commitment level is fairly low and the depth of the community is very shallow-really, it can only be called a community in the broadest possible sense of that word-but with Christ, instead of temporary, shallow community we are offered the possibility of deep and meaningful community.  And it is deep and abiding community that our spirits long for.  It is deep communion with God that we desire-but also close and supportive community with the people around us.        Indeed, real community can be difficult.  People don't work at it as diligently as they ought to.  Oftentimes people disappoint us by their words or their actions-in ways that hinder community.  Sometimes we disappoint ourselves.  And maybe we've actually experienced deep community with others only to see it disintegrate somewhere down the road-and we feel a little disillusioned.  Indeed, achieving real community can be difficult.  Is it worth all the trouble?        Community is often listed as one of the primary Quaker testimonies-alongside peace, simplicity, integrity, and equality.  Thomas Kelly, a Quaker, wrote a wonderful essay called The Blessed Community that outlines our deep longing for real community.  Let me share a few of Kelly's words.  He says, "When we are drowned in the overwhelming seas of the love of God, we find ourselves in a new and particular relation to a few [others].  The relation is so surprising and so rich that we despair of finding a word glorious enough and weighty enough to name it.  The word Fellowship is discovered, but the word is pale and thin in comparison with the rich volume and luminous bulk and warmth of the experience which it would designate.  For a new kind of life-sharing and of love has arisen of which we had had only dim hints before."  Kelly goes on to ask, "Are these the bonds of love which knit together the early Christians, the very warp and woof of the Kingdom of God?  In glad amazement and wonder we enter upon a relationship which we had not known the world contained."  (A Testament of Devotion, New York: Walker and Company, 1987, p. 105)         He's talking about discovering a deeper level of community than most of us experience most of the time.  And it is a level of love that all of us long for.  I asked the question a moment ago, "Is it worth it?"  Is it worth it to try to achieve a deeper level of community and fellowship with others when we know so well from bitter experience how often it is that we are disappointed?  Yet the answer comes quickly.  Yes.  It is worth it.  This deeper level of love and friendship that we know can exist is worth it.        And even though Christ seems to be giving us a warning: "You'd better watch out.  How they treat me might be how they treat you.  And if they have bad things to say about me, they might just think of worse things to say about you."  Yet we are not deterred by the warning.         Later in this passage-verses 34 and following-Jesus offered yet another warning about his community.  It turns out that it can also be a radical community.  Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."  Indeed these seem like difficult words and without a doubt they have been misconstrued at times.  Jesus did come with a message of peace.  But in this passage he is acknowledging the radical nature of his community.  There are corrupt systems in this world that need to be transformed.  There are entrenched attitudes of prejudice that need to be changed.  There is oppression that needs to be ended.  And Jesus sometimes said things that upset those in power.  And in these verses in Matthew 10 Jesus acknowledges that sometimes his message will not be well received.  Some will oppose it.  It might bring division at first.  But even still, we are not deterred by Jesus' warning.  Even so we feel drawn to this community that has such a lofty goal-a goal no less than the entire transformation of humanity, inside and out.  Ultimately, it is a message of peace.        But my favorite part of our passage today is the part I skipped over.  Verses 26 and following say at least three times: Do not be afraid.  Have no fear as everything is brought into the light.  Do not fear those who do evil-they have no control over your soul.  And do not be afraid-in fact, never doubt how much God loves you.  In this section I think we can see the close-knit nature of this community.  We are reassured and we are loved.  Yes, indeed, as we consider this community we believe that Jesus was the greatest person that ever lived-and we believe he offers the greatest hope for humanity, both now and for the age to come.  And we are more than eager to be in close community with Christ.        Thomas Kelly, in his chapter called The Blessed Community focuses a little more on community with others-even though community with Christ is what makes it possible.  But he notes especially the especially close community that we it is possible to discover with a few others.  Yet at the end of his work he asks, what if we tried this with everyone?  He says, "Can we make all our relations with [others] relations which pass through Him?  Our relations to the conductor on a trolley?  Our relations to the clerk who serves us in a store?  How far is the work from such an ideal!  How far is Christian practice from such an expectation!  Yet we, from our end of the relationship, can send out the Eternal Love in silent, searching hope, and meet each person with a background of eternal expectation and a silent, wordless prayer of love.  For until [our lives are] in every relation, shot through with Eternity, the Blessed Community is not complete."  (p. 120)        May each of us grow deeper in our experience of community with Christ and with others.