⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. ⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 12)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we enter into the depths of the season after Pentecost (having earned the nickname ‘long green season’ by clergy and altar guilds) we have a chance to focus our attention on what it means to be the church on earth. The church began dramatically on that first Day of Pentecost. It has continued through persecutions, scandals, schisms, divisions, and trials as well as joyous conversions, world-wide expansion and welfare advancements.

Luther describes the Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy” me and all believers. The Holy Spirit gathers us into the one body. The Holy Spirit transforms individual believers into the community of believers. Community is far from easy. The book of Acts chronicles both the triumphs and tribulations of the earliest Christians. Sometimes, they just did not want to be in community with one another. Being in community with one another was – and is – challenging.

The disciples throughout Acts dealt with disagreements and disparities over the direction of the church. The earliest congregations experienced dissension amongst themselves. The Holy Spirit blessed the church with the gift of variety. Each believer was unique and blessed with unique abilities, roles, and vocations within the community. Variety within the context of a still sinful world eventually leads to conflict. Reports of conflict often resulted in a Pauline letter. (Paul himself was not immune to conflict. He and Barnabas had a falling out over who to include on a mission trip.) Life in Christian community is demanding work.

In modern American (or Western) culture, faith is usually regarded by people as individual and private aspects of life. Unfortunately, that attitude is not support by Scripture. The Christian faith has a strong communal and public aspect. The Holy Spirit landed on all the apostles gathered in Jerusalem. They then proclaimed Christ to all the people gathered in Jerusalem. “Those who accepted his (Peter’s) message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” All of this was out in public and brought people into fellowship with one another. The second chapter of Acts continues to describe how the apostles and the daily added new believers lived in community with one another.

The loss of our awareness and experience of Christian community is a hardly new. Throughout the centuries, Christians have experienced the dichotomy of personal and communal expressions of faith. Historical emphasis tends to resemble a pendulum between the two expressions. As Christianity became more socially acceptable, the emphasis swung toward the individual. During times of duress, it swung toward the communal. The monastic movement combined the two elements by forming small, reclusive communities.

In the 20^th century, Bonhoeffer conducted an experiment while teaching on behalf of the Confessing Church’s concept underground seminary at Finkenwalde. While living in community and studying under the threat of arrest, Bonhoeffer attempted to initiate a modern style of monasticism. Influenced by both contextual and theological motives, this project sought to nurture intentional Christian community. (A Gestapo raid on the seminary concluded the project.) Bonhoeffer chronicled this project, along with his theological stance espousing the necessity of intentional Christian community, in his book, Life Together. A highlight of his proposal is that Christians need to be intentional about community precisely because it is challenging.

Community has always been challenging, is still challenging, and for as long as we are on this earth, it will always be challenging. Human beings tend to want more than just one commonality and where diversity of ideas, gifts, or talents arise, there is a push for conformity. Yet, to (very loosely) paraphrase Paul, a body consisting of only eyes, or only ears, or only arms, or (insert body part ad infinitum) is useless.

The Holy Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies” you. The Spirit places you in community. Jesus is the one ‘common’ element we share. We do not need anything else. Christ is enough. The Holy Spirit has blessed us with diverse gifts and diverse people. The very things that make community difficult for us as human beings are precisely what makes us strong as the church.