COMMONS
Acts 2:43-47; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; Matthew 25:31-46
4th Sunday in the Season of Creation, September 24, 2023
Pastor Ritva H Williams
Welcome to Episode 7 of the Season of Creation featuring our exploration of Diana Butler Bass’ book Grounded in conversation with thematically selected scripture readings. So far we have considered “where is God?” in our natural habitat, and are now asking the same question about our human geography: roots, home, neighborhood, and today “commons.”
“Commons” is a somewhat unusual word and idea for most of us. DBB defines it as both shared space and a self-governing community of people. She lifts up New England towns which were historically centered around a “common”or community green space where early inhabitants grazed livestock, planted shared gardens, held markets, and community gatherings (p. 240). Contemporary examples of such commons include street festivals, dining halls, parks, and sporting events where people of diverse roots, homes and neighborhoods can meet for some shared interest. “The commons is the geography of hospitality, belonging to none, welcoming all” (p. 241).
Commons are a feature of local life — think of Bever Park or Green Square. Commons is also an expansive concept. In the United Kingdom and Canada, “the house of commons” is a democratically elected governing body of citizens representing local communities. In this country, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Puerto Rico and the Mariana Islands are “commonwealths” founded for the purpose of pursuing the common good of their residents. Australia defines itself as a “commonwealth” of states. The British Commonwealth of Nations takes this idea of communities organized for the common good to a global scale, as does DBB’s dream of a “world commons.” All of these are ideas for discussion during our adult education hour.
My focus this morning is on the biblical and spiritual roots that empower the creation of “commons” as a place of hospitality where people share goods, learning, faith, sustenance, shelter, and make decisions together for their common good.
Our reading from Acts 2 describes what happened after Christ’s death, resurrection, and appearances to the disciples. The setting is the pilgrimage festival of Shavuot/Pentecost when thousands of Jews from around the world gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate God’s gift of Torah. This divine gift, given amidst wind and flame, transformed newly liberated Israelite slaves into a community committed to loving God and loving neighbor. For the followers of Jesus, Pentecost was a dramatic replay. Wind and flame empowered the proclamation of the good news of Christ’s resurrection to people of all nations and languages, affirming God’s love and solidarity with all who suffer as Christ suffered.
In this morning’s reading, we hear how the first Christ-followers experienced communitas — a spirit of community that produces a profound sense of equality, togetherness, and solidarity. The apostles continued Jesus’ ministry of healing, performing signs and wonders restoring the poor and disabled to health and community. These early awe-filled believers were all together and had all things in common — selling their possessions and distributing the proceeds to those in need. They gathered together in the temple, worshipping, preaching and teaching. They gathered together in their homes, feeding and caring for each other. They experienced awe, gladness and generosity which they expressed in words and actions. Their joy was so contagious it drew others to join them in communitas.
The Holy Spirit inspired and empowered these first Christ-followers to be a community — a commons or commonwealth committed to the common good of all its members. They genuinely believed this was God’s dream for humanity — a dream rooted in the biblical stories of the garden of Eden and Israel’s wilderness sojourn where God provided food and sustenance to be shared equally by all. As the story of the early church unfolds in the book of Acts we hear how human greed, power and prejudice marred that experience of communitas, just as it did in the books of Genesis and Exodus. But God did and does not give up on human beings.
Commons are also built up through communion — the spirit of relationship and belonging. Our second reading takes us to the ancient Greek city of Corinth where competition for prestige and status dominated all aspects of life. Paul spends a great deal of ink explaining that all who share the bread and cup of Christ are partners together with one another in Christ: “because there is one bread, we who are many are one body.” Therefore, no one is to be humiliated by being excluded from the Lord’s Supper. When we commune at the Lord’s table we are restored to right relationship with Christ, with one another, and with all believers everywhere through all time.
Our communion doesn’t end when we leave the Lord’s table. God bestows varieties of gifts, services and activities to every community. These are distributed individually to each person so that everyone is able to contribute to the common good (12:4-7). Paul goes on to compare the church to a body that needs all of its parts — eyes and ears, hands and feet, baby toes and privates — to function as God intended. All members belong, all members have a role to play through their gifts, strengths and talents. Our communion extends from the Lord’s table to the picnic table, the council table, the committee meeting, the classroom, the service project, the vegetable garden, and other activities we undertake together in Christ’s name.
DBB writes, “Communitas [a collective sense of unity and solidarity] emerges when human beings gather. Communion is the sort of sharing that results in a more profound sense of our relationships to each other and the world. And compassion insists that we have a moral responsibility for each other (p. 256).
Compassion literally means suffering with another person, experiencing another grief, pain or need. It is rooted in empathy — our awareness of other people’s feelings. Compassion goes one step further by creating in us a desire to respond in a helpful way. All the world’s great religious traditions place compassion as the central virtue of human life, rooting compassion in the very nature and character of God (p. 258). Created in God’s image, compassion is part of our DNA, called to grow into God’s likeness cultivating compassion becomes a moral responsibility. Our gospel reading from Matthew 25 makes this crystal clear. The scene is the judgment of the nations (all nations!). Notice that the Christ says nothing about believing in him, or getting born again, or saying the sinners prayer. The only criteria is compassion: did we feed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned. The rationale is explicitly stated: what we do to the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned is what we are doing to the Christ both within us and in the world around us. It appears that our experience of the world to come is intimately tied to our compassionate action in the world and on behalf of the planet.
Communitas, communion and compassion are spiritual practices for building “commons” not just here and now locally and globally, but there and then too wherever and however there and then emerge. I wonder if this autumn we might stand in solidarity and communion with the trees.
As they drop their leaves perhaps we could let go of those things that get in the way of communitas, communion, and compassion in our lives and in our communities.
Letting Go by Annie Heppenstall
The birch leaves are falling, Lord,yellow diamond on the green grass released in the autumn wind.
But I, Lord,I still clutch tight the leaves of my old life, useless, withered and dry.
Teach me to let go of the old — old hurts and animosities, old troubles and grief.
Teach me to release them into the wind of your Spirit to be whisked away,
that like the tree I may rest a while at peace within,
then grown again in the spring.
Amen.
