Acts 2 and Intentional Christian Community

Lectionary Reflections   Easter 4   May 15

Acts 2:42-47

Psalm 23

1 Peter 2:19-25

John 10:1-10

Dear friends,

My reflections today center on a passage that is both perplexing and dear to my heart,  the passage from Acts 2:

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶Day 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, ⁴⁷praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

This first intentional Christian community may be one of the first examples of a voluntary intentional community ever written down.  My first response is to share in the in awe that came upon everyone at the wonder and sign of a this community being together with all things in common.  And through the centuries that follow, this one little phrase  "all things in common" has spawned countless attempts to create common-purse associations of believers around the globe.  But why?  Why did this first group happen, and why all of the imitations thereafter, even to this day?

If we read it carefully, we will see that the distribution of proceeds was to all, implying not just to the new believers, in the insular "new family" , but to "all, as any had need".  This interpretation is corroborated by the statement that they had the goodwill of "all the people".   There is not much detail to go on here, but it appears that they appear to be moved to the common purse and to the meeting of needs by compassion for those in need.  They could also have been expecting Jesus to return any day.  OK, maybe any week.  That would give you a fearlessness about the future, and a sense of immediacy about each moment and each need in that moment.  My mind immediately races to ask all of the programmatic and practical questions:  how did they do it?  how did they decide who got what? What was a need and what was a want, or even greed?  Someone's doctor bill? funeral? fix their chariot so they could keep their job? How about funding the kids' education at the lyceum?  And how long did they keep living like this?  So what if it did not last...  does that mean it was not good and right to try?  All great questions, but I think I've raced ahead too fast.

Going back to the text, do you notice that the phase "breaking of bread" occurs twice?  In last week's text, also from Luke, the two followers on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus when he broke and blessed the bread with them.  I think the "breaking of bread" here in Acts may be much more than nourishing the body and have a community bonding experience, the "love feast" important as those are.  The very presence of Christ is among them in the act of breaking bread.  This would transform the whole endeavor from a “cool new group lifestyle” to a more full creation of the Holy Spirit, undergirded by the teachings of Jesus, and led by the living Spirit of Christ present as love manifested among them.  Now we often tend to put the "early church" on a very high pedestal, and I’m not saying it was a perfect picture of the realm of God on earth. But something was happening. 

And I think something is happening today, as we in the emergent church and new monasticism try on various ways to respond to the calls of the Wild Goose, in the presence of our Good Shepherd who says “I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly.”

PS  I would love to hear others in the community and enquirers post about their experiences with community living, relational tithes and so forth, and I will post some more follow up questions and websites later this week for those who would like to engage in discussion.