On Community, Part 2
November 1, 2010
This month, Matt and Shaun continue to promote Biblical, God-Centered Community.
And this month’s link is:
- Dever, Driscoll, MacDonald Interview (Don’t miss the comments.)
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Ordinary Means 
These two past podcasts were great — some of your best ever.
Thanks, Chris! (Check is in the mail.)
good podcast(s).
I think one of the few places you see real community these days in on a college campus. These are people who live, work, eat, and play together. It is no wonder to me that most people seem to make most of their best friends in college, as well as look back on those years as the best years.
I think there are a couple things here of note often overlooked:
First, that most people seem to desire this kind of intimate community.
Second, that these (live, work, eat, play) are all parts of community, and to lose one is to lose some of the close community intimacy.
Third, that our cultural tendencies prevent most of these to be connected and/or consistent.
you asked for questions, so here are a few:
At one point (39 minutes in I think), the idea of knowing every member of your church came up briefly and it was not really considered (I think the word “impossible” may have been muttered). My question then, is why? I don’t think it necessarily must be this way, however, I think it is worth considering, particularly when people have a tendency to be anonymous and very individual and disconnected.
you mention at about 38 minutes in that some Christians are inclined toward agrarianism by a right motive, but that agrarianism is a wrong answer. Could you unpack that for me? I don’t think I understand why agrarianism and gospel community cannot co-exist.
Phil,
Great questions! Matt and I will talk about them in a future podcast. I’ll leave you with a couple thought ’til then.
1. If most people have a “desire for intimate community”, then why do “people have a tendency to be anonymous and very individual and disconnected”? I think these are the very two impulses that wage war against Biblical community.
2. Agrarianism and Gospel-community CAN co-exist. What I am saying is that it is a mistake to think they are the same thing or that Biblical community can only or better exist within agrarianism. Christ is trans-cultural, and we need to be careful not to pin him to any particular lifestyle or community. I think Nichols does a good job of making this point in “Jesus, Made in America”.
Best,
Shaun
I finally had the time to listen to the October and November podcast and they were great. It was so timely for me. I just came to the realization that Paul’s letters are ones of encouragement to love and good deeds and that my life ought to be the same. These two podcasts encourage me to continue on this path and I appreciate the pratical parts of your conversations as well.
Thanks for posting the One Another Commands.
Dave
Hi, I also have really enjoyed your discussion and the challenges that it raises about the ongoing temptation to isolate onself (at least it is one of my daily challenges). I think you may have mentioned Wendell Berry at some point but would appreciate any further discussion as it seems to me that is one of the main points of his writing both essays and fiction – both community within a marriage and within a larger “membership” as he calls it. How do we take what he describes – which is in an agrarian context – and apply it to modern life? How do we find other people who acknowledge the desire for such a community? And I think there is a suggestion within Berry’s work that long stretches of time in the development and maintenence of community are terribly necessary and yet – in our modern context again – difficult as we move from place to place so frequently?
As an aside, while I totally support Berry’s choice to not have a computer in his home – I sure wish I could email him! Could you guys see if he’ll do an interview? Just a thought.
Thanks for putting out some thoughtful stuff, as a homeschool mom of young kids I enjoy getting a couple minutes to lift my head out of the tyranny of the urgent to think about bigger things.
Steff