Importance: 10%
Dr. Nafzger
The
Luther’s table is a good example of communal living
there for dinner 35-50 people commonly ate with them. Basically everyone from family to students, and employees
We don’t always talk about the gospel and Christian life that leads to this kind of community
Explanation of third article by Luther keeps personal and communal faith together not even separating it in sentences
Faith is them mine and ours at the same time.
Book: they like Jesus but not the church - Dan kimball
Article: what are ecclisiologically challenged Lutherans to do - Arande journal
We talk about these a lot: ** Thought about what is the church? Marks of the church
Who is in change of the church?
How does the church relate to state?
How do Lutherans relate to other Christians?
How are congregations organized?
How does the church handle rites and ceremonies?
But not a lot about what community between you and me is
Book: A Secular Age - Charles Taylor moment of world away from Christian culture to having to argue for it
- Secularity 1: removal of religion from public square
- Decline of religious faith and practice
- The condition in which Christian belief is no longer self-evident
Exclusive humanism- the idea humans are in their own now and there is no God or anything to help out.
It is a move from an enchanted to a disenchanted world. The person used to be porous but moved to buffered and not open to influence or outside forces and spirits.
Also gone from a communal conception of self to an individual conception of self.
These are western societies issues
We have moved from and externally given and set identity to an internal expressive individualism that looks inside to the self to find out who you are. This is new from the 1960s.
Thomas Hobbes - said voluntary consent is the essence of society. Move to individualistic society
Descartes- rationalist basis
John Locke - pursuit of rights and happiness
Herbert Hoover - rugged individualism
Over five hundred years of individualism is a lot to go against and we can’t change it we need to think about how to be community in spite of it
International student handbook makes a big deal about how individual America is and not communal based
Effects on the church is horrible retention 60-70% or baptized kids make it the confirmation 33% make it dime confirmation to young adult
1.5 of 10 kids make it to being a Christian adult
Book: the art of community - Charles Vogl
Mirage community vs authentic community
True community needs
- Shared values
- Shared practices that flow from these shared values
- Mutual concern for one another’s well-being
The last one is the hardest and the missing ingredient we end up struggling with
Evangelism explosion had to two questions would you go to heaven? But it totally was individualistic
Pronoun issue with English is that we don’t have a you plural. It ends up sounding like we only ever ask how you individually not you as a group is
Bible is not just a love letter to you but to all of us as a community
The view from the pew is that you really only see the back of a head or the pastor. It then tends to be a more individualistic experience
The story or scripture we tell ends up being very individualized when it comes to salvation and me going to heaven instead of it being focused on community. This part is important and yet it is also about humane part of the body of Christ
It is easy to have sacramental individualism where we often remind people of what this is for them but not how sacraments bind us together as a community. Both are important but they need to be together
The “other” pandemic - loneliness
“Social Frailty Index” - how connected an elderly person us us a high risk for death
The human creature breaks down and does not live as long without community
Problems with community outside the church
- Self-selected
- Temporary
- Tribalistic - almost no middle ground anymore
Inside the church
- Selected by God
- Eternal community
- Hospitable
Are we really hospitable?
Preaching and teaching toward community
- What would it sounds like to tell the salvation story from a communal perspective.
- Talk about lords supper with a focus on the family meal aspect
- Confession/absolution as a group and daily practice
- Baptism as what makes us a people
- 10 commandments as a protective hedge around the community to keep us safe and together
- “Relationship Day” in German everything is closed on Sunday as a time to be a community. Think of it as a day we give special attention to our relationships with God and his people
We need to start by preaching and teaching a communal gospel and seeing how we can act like a community
Every five years you should reevaluate everything you are doing and see if it is worth still doing it