The First Christian Community

A couple of weeks ago I made reference to the description of the earliest Christian community in the Biblical Book of The Acts of the Apostles (2: 42-47)

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

(and 4: 32-35).

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

What do we do with these extraordinary statements? They are particularly challenging given that we live in a culture for which self-reliance and the capacity to own possession (and a lot of them, to boot) are among the highest of values. Do these Biblical descriptions then simply articulate a quaint idea that has no place in the real world?

I must confess, I struggle mightily with the contrast between this Biblical model of community and our kind of community. In case you’re worried, I am not going to say that if we were good Christians we would just decide to live this way. Even those Biblical passages do not imply that this is a test of our morality.

What we have here is a description of how things are supposed to work in the Realm of God. But what is it that could make this way of living so attractive. Let me start from the negative side: Jesus and the apostles after him make the point that living according to the values of power and wealth will eventually lead to destruction. Hoarding creates scarcity and anxiety. Valuing possessions too highly inevitably leads to corruption. Their point on the positive side is that the only way to create peace and well being in the long run is by learning to be true friends with one another, that is to say, learning to care about everyone in the community, economically as well as emotionally.

There is no water-tight argument that can prove that model of the Realm of God actually works, but there is ample evidence in history that our way ultimately fails, and that there are always many who are necessarily disenfranchised and left in poverty and hunger so that others can thrive – for a time. Sooner or later, the system like ours always collapses into wars and other forms struggle for power. The crises of the last few years show us how far human beings are willing to go in torture and destruction in order to keep what we possess out of the hands of others.

So, how did those early Christians do it? How did they have the (political?) will to live completely at odds with their economic surroundings? Remember that the highest values of the Roman Empire were much like ours today: power, wealth, and upward mobility.

According to Acts, the difference appears to be “the great grace that was upon them all.” So, what does that mean? I think it means that they were invited into the possibility of inner transformation. I think it means that somehow they saw that their present system could only work for the relatively few at the expense of the many. Furthermore, they could see the maturity and “grace” in the leadership qualities of the Apostles. Their experience of “grace” told them that such maturity might be available to them, too.

I think being “mature” when it comes to possessions is very difficult, though necessary. The Buddha taught that detachment from the world brought peace and that attachments are always the source of suffering. Jesus taught that “where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also.” He also encouraged people to learn to love one another. We also know from such sources of wisdom that maturity does not happen in an instant. It is a process. Community is a process. The Realm of God is a process. Still, to participate actively in such healthy processes require that we first examine our highest values. Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man (or woman, presumably) to participate in the Realm of God.

I will finish for today with this final question: Do our churches promote the maturity necessary for us to embody the Realm of God on Earth?

What do you think?

Wayne Gustafson
“Our faith is 2000 years old, our thinking isn’t.”
The United Church__of Christ