This is the third installment in my series ruminating on the proper tools necessary for accomplishing objectives. This series emanates from my ongoing attempts to navigate family situations and ever-present household projects. Over many weeks and months, while moving through mundane tasks, I have pondered the fact that the objectives and tasks presented by family life are only accomplished with the proper implements and wisdom to understand how such tools are rightly used.
Throughout this time, the Holy Spirit has moved my mind and heart to make connections to God’s revealed truth, specifically in Sacred Scripture. There, I find practical tools and applicable wisdom for the essential objective of my life as a disciple, which is holiness. In the first installment, I dealt with prayer and worship as a pre-eminent means for accomplishing that objective. I followed that with an installment focused on Sacred Tradition, the teaching authority of the Church, and biblical revelation itself. Beyond those necessary pillars of the spiritual life, Sacred Scripture heralds community fellowship and the works of mercy as essential tools for achieving holiness.
NOT JUST COMMUNITY…COMMUNION
It is necessary first to clarify a term. “Community” may not convey the reality of my experience—the biblical reality, I hope—clearly enough. I prefer to use koinonia, instead, a Greek term (used in both biblical and extra-biblical sources) that signifies intimate connection, mutual purpose, and shared life experiences.
The import of this type of community for achieving holiness is first found in the Torah, the law of ancient Israel. In Leviticus, Moses instructs the nation first about holiness (Lev. 20:26) and establishes a series of “holy convocations” (liturgical feast days) that are to assist them toward that purpose (Lev. 23:2). Thus, we know from early in the biblical paradigm that communal gatherings—communion—are an essential and effective tool for achieving holiness.
This pattern, of course, is brought to its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and it is extended in the operations of His Church throughout history. So, we expect to find examples expressed and lived out by Jesus’ followers, in both the Gospels and New Testament letters. At a crucial moment in His ministry, Jesus sent out seventy-two of His disciples, and He sent them in pairs (see Lk. 10:1-12). Without a doubt, His purpose was to provide them with community while they engaged in the mission He gave them. My experience tells me that having fellowship and a common vision, purpose, and mission with another person is vitally important for sustaining hope and vigor, especially when discouragement sets in and results are not obvious.
The record of the Early Church, found in the Acts of the Apostles, reveals this dynamic as well, particularly in two passages. First, we read the newly-baptized Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” The passage continues:
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. …And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day… (Acts 2:42-47)
Later in Acts, the Church demonstrates the centrality of koinonia after Paul and Barnabas return from a missionary journey in which they preached and established churches (Acts 13-14). “And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them…. And they remained no little time with the disciples” (Acts 14:27-28). In both cases, gatherings of the Church provided life-giving communion, encouraging and building up all the members at each level. Moreover, as Paul continued to travel and establish churches, he encouraged koinonia as a paradigm of Christian life (see 1 Thess. 5:11); and he identified his own participation in this paradigm (see Phil. 4:14-20).
MISSION & WORKS OF MERCY
Digging into the biblical record on koinonia also identifies that the communion of disciples inspires action for ministering to others, specifically, the works of mercy. Again, this paradigm is to be found in the Old Testament. After Moses identified the communal feasts that fostered the life of Israel in Leviticus, he admonishes the nation that kindness toward the poor and just treatment of hired laborers is flows from a right relationship with God and the community: “fear your God, that your brother may live beside you” (Lev. 25:35ff).
When Jesus begins ministering to fulfill all prior revelation, “he called to him his twelve disciples” and immediately “gave them authority over unclean spirits…and to heal every disease and every affliction.” Our Lord gave specific instructions along with the authority: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons” (Mt. 10:1,8). To crystalize this truth, Jesus spoke the Parable of the Good Samaritan in which the merciful treatment of others—specifically, toward people with grave differences—is an essential disposition of His revolutionary way of life. All this culminates in Jesus’ teaching, just before His entry into Jerusalem for Holy Week, that our very salvation is linked to the feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and so on (see Mt. 25:31-40).
The author of the letter to the Hebrews writes briefly how this paradigm applied in the life of the Early Church. “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…” (Heb. 10:24-25). At every point throughout biblical revelation, then, I notice that the gathering of a community of one mind and heart inspires merciful action toward others, both inside and outside the community.
APPLICATION IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
Now that I understand koinonia and works of mercy as necessary tools for holiness, the latter proceeding from the former, how can I gain the wisdom to employ these tools well?
Again, the biblical record is the starting point, and it reveals to me that the Eucharistic celebration is the foundation of all the efforts. It is the way Christians are first called to “meet together” before being incited to mission (see Heb. 10:24-25). Following Eucharistic worship, I need to seek out intentional Christian community—that is, community that worships together and does life together, sharing meals, works of mercy, joys, frustrations, and so on. Then, as koinonia within that community incites me to works of mercy, I ought to realize that I am neither called nor equipped to do all of them. Rather, I ought to identify those works toward which God has inclined me, and for which He has equipped me. From that humble recognition, I can minister to others in a way that will bear most fruit, trusting that God will provide laborers to undertake other necessary works. Thus, we accompany each other in our common mission.
Employing the six tools identified in these three columns and—before all else—begging and relying on God’s grace surely will provide me with the soundest, most effective path to holiness, which I know is God’s intent for me. With them in my proverbial tool belt, I will be able to work efficiently and joyfully, no matter the conundrums that come my way.
Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash
