V.
The Pattern Of Christian Community
49.
The real relationships existing within the Godhead, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit, are reflected within the ordered life of creation
and, still more clearly revealed to the eye of faith, in the pattern
they establish and make possible for the community life of God's
people.
50.
Whenever the Word of God is truly heard, the Church shapes its life
in due obedience; the pattern thus brought into being becomes in
its turn a means of showing forth the Word. As individuals are healed
and remade by Christ, so also are the relationships within which
their life is brought to fulfilment. When, for example, the community
of Christians at Philippi was told to have the mind of Christ, who
emptied himself and took the form of a servant, this was not just
an instruction to private individuals, but an exhortation for the
benefit of their common life. Further still, it was not just for
their own health and happiness as a community, but for a making
known the Word to the world: it was a setting forth of the Word
through an effective embodiment of the servanthood of the Incarnate
One. One passage in the New Testament - 1 John 1:1-3 - dares to
suggest that the life of the Christian community is a reflection
of the life of the Godhead: thus the communal life of Christians
has a vertical as well as a horizontal dimension. They do not merely
enjoy fellowship with each other; their life together is a sharing
in the life of the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.
51.
The Savior rescues us from loneliness and sets us within the infinitely
diverse security of his friends. The images used in the Gospels
and in the apostolic preaching give indications relating to the
ordered life brought into being by Christ. The images are corporate
as well as individual. They evoke the Bridegroom as well as the
Bride, the Good Shepherd's care, the growth and pruning of the Vine,
the manifold activities and talents of the Body, family life in
the Home, good stewardship, the tender care of the Samaritan, the
touch of the Healer, the watchful love of the Father. In the light
of the Lord's Supper, the image of the Body has inspired profound
insights and reflections on the Church as the Body of Christ.
52.
It must also be remembered that in the New Testament, the actions
that allow the Church to grow in strength and ordered life - the
setting apart of new ministers, or corporate decisions and teaching,
for example - are always accompanied by the action of the Holy Spirit,
who makes it possible for us to live in communion and harmony with
one another (Acts 13:2; 15:28; 16:6-7; 2 Tim 1:14). The Spirit is
the invisible thread running through the work of the Church in the
world, enabling our minds to hear and receive the Word, enlightening
them to understand the Word, and giving us tongues to speak the
Word (Jn 14:26; 16:13-14; Acts 4:31). Relating us to one another
and to Christ our Head, the Holy Spirit gives coherent shape and
variety to the people of God. Within that people as they are, and
for that people as they shall be, the Holy Spirit invites us all
to share in the service of the One who came to serve.
|