18 Sep 2015
It’s a nice little image there, in the gospel: Jesus and his
community of followers, out and about preaching the gospel by example and by
word. There’s almost a sense of “rightness”
about it; like that’s the way it’s supposed to be for us Christians. No bickering, no trying to trump somebody
else, no laziness—none of that. It’s a
nice little image there, in the gospel, of where as Christians started out.
Of course, by the time St Paul wrote his letter to Timothy,
he had to remind people not to be conceited or envious or unkind to one
another. There were plenty of Christians
still trying to follow the ideal of community living and worship, but—as it
happens—there were others who didn’t quite follow that ideal.
And then we have our whole 2000 year history of the Church,
and the present-day life of the Church.
And somewhere in the mix of it all today, somewhere in between all the
meetings and debates, the disagreements, the politics, the factions and
frictions that happen in the community of the faithful . . . somewhere in our
collective memory as Christians is that nice little image from the gospel:
Jesus and his loving disciples, moving together, living together, proclaiming
the good news together, as one.
It is a nice image;
something to keep in mind. It’s where we
started out as the Church. Maybe
someday, by the grace of God, that image will become a reality again.
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