So I’m praying about where we are as a community, what is next, and, to be honest, what is going on right now. I’m doing my philosophy homework for seminary. And it “clicks”. There is the answer in Aristotle and MacIntyre. It’s SO cool! That’s what God’s doing!! It’s all about virtue.
Now let’s see if I can explain it without writing a dissertation.
Our transformation into a truly multiethnic, diverse community is a movement from clueless idealism and a kind of pragmatism about “growth” to a change of ethos and the accumulation of virtue. By virtue I mean those internal dispositions and values which prioritize: Christ, what he taught, and the purpose and form of life that he calls his people to. It is not just that we do or say certain things—that can just be mimicry. It is that we believe them. We own them deep down in our souls and they direct our decision-making, our understanding about life, and the purposes we live and sacrifice for.
As evangelicals, we are establishing practices which follow the trajectory of our commitment to Christ, Kingdom, and the primacy of scripture. We are turning the good news of reconciliation, the gospel (2 Co 5:16-21, Eph 2:11-22), into actual practice. By “practice” I mean ways of thinking, expressing, giving, and receiving love. We are attempting to inculcate within our community the means, language, structures, goals, and virtues which bring about God’s will of reconciliation (across cultures, economics, gender, ethnicity, etc.).
To do this means some uncomfortable moments, challenging things never challenged before, confronting fears we would rather not confront, stepping into things we feel either defenseless about or overwhelmed by. We have to talk about race, racism, prejudice, division, wounds, scars, and difficult things. We do this in order to be transformed into a people who can think, talk, and act according to the Lord’s higher standards of love. We are not solving a problem of someone insulting someone else. We are being re-made so that when (not if) it happens that we can deal with insults and injuries in a healthy, honoring, truthful way. We are being transformed for our own sake, but also for those who will be brought to us. People who have been injured by racism, and people who have (knowingly or unknowingly) perpetuated it. We are transforming “taboo” into redemption.
The truth is that we cannot be a “community” as Christ defines community without dealing with these hard realities and uncomfortable situations. At the same time, by stepping into them we are that community. Perhaps we are not fully mature as a community (which we aren’t), but the fact that we are putting our efforts (however nascent) to doing the Lord’s will the Lord’s way means we are his community. After all, a writer is not someone who writes a best seller. A writer is someone who writes. It’s who they are what they do irrespective of results. A “best seller” simply makes them a profitable writer or a struggling writer or whatever adjective applies. Unless they are actually doing the thing called “writing” they are not writers; no matter what they think or desire or want to be true. A Christian community is one that is reconciled and one that is about reconciliation in relationship with the Lord and with all those who are his. These are two parts of one whole not two distinct parts we get choose or prioritize.
So, what are these virtues we are practicing and appropriating? Don’t take this as exhaustive, but here a few that come to mind:
Speaking the truth in love (honesty and courage)
Listening because we know we will hear Christ through others in the community (humility and expectation of the Divine in the everyday)
Readiness for correction without defensiveness (forgiveness, humility, love)
Responsive to the needs of others in giving time, talent, treasure (Generosity, Hospitality)
Stepping out of our comfort into following the Lord into new waters (Risk Taking)
By embracing, practicing, failing, and trying these again and again and again, we are transformed. We don’t just have disembodied doctrine or religion; but embodied, lived-out Kingdom life. In doing these things we legitimately are (to use St. Patrick’s missionary method) that “alternative village” alongside the world that invites people in to a new life. A life that is whole and accessible and possible.
A life that is available for all people under the Lordship of Christ.
A life that is ONLY accessible because of Him.
A life that He will bring about as we willingly follow him in virtue
(if not in the completely in the “now” of this
age, certainly in the “then” of his return)
So the discussion and the on-going things we will be doing abou reconciliation, race, etc are not secondary matters, but primary matters essential to the vision that the Lord has given of all people united in love under his grace. This is something rare in the church. It is not something we can do in and of ourselves, but something that will come about by trusting him and following him, by talking with one another, by listening closely to the “others” in our community (who are really us but are practically “other” because we don’t know or understand one another) by encouraging one another, by forgiveness, risk taking, hospitality, and generosity.
So hang in with us. Don’t be easily discouraged. Don’t wonder when we will get “past” reconciliation. It comes about as we live out the virtues Christ requires applying them to love and unity (not uniformity) among our diverse community. It is not always “hot” or “urgent”, but it is always present because it is always essential to the Lord’s purposes in this age.
