Why Beloved Community?
Jesus laid out the fundamentals for any who would follow him when he said, “The first [commandment] of all is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Mark 12:29-31). The Beloved Community is the body within which we promote the fruits of the spirit and grow to recognize our kinship as people who love God and love the image of God that we find in our neighbors, in ourselves, and in creation. It provides a positive, theologically and biblically based ideal toward which we can grow in love, rather than framing our justice and reconciliation efforts as fundamentally “against” (as in anti-racism, anti-oppression, etc.).
Charles Skinner describes the vision this way: “Beloved Community is not an organization of individuals; it is a new adventure of consecrated men and women seeking a new world … who forget themselves in their passion to find the common life where the good of all is the quest of each.” Quoting Karl Barth, Charles Marsh writes of the Beloved Community, “[T]he Christian regards the peaceable reign of God as the hidden meaning of all movements for liberation and reconciliation that ‘brings us together for these days as strangers and yet as friends.’”
In other words, Beloved Community is the practical image of the world we pray for when we say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We dream of communities where all people may experience dignity and abundant life, and see themselves and others as beloved children of God. We pray for communities that labor so that the flourishing of every person (and all creation) is seen as the hope of each. Conceived this way, Beloved Community provides a deeply faithful paradigm for transformation, formation, organizing, advocacy, and witness.
Pray the Collect for This Sunday
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen.
Reflection: Stir Us Up
The Prophet Isaiah (see Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11) envisions a holy community where all people flourish and seek the good for each other, and it all begins with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. How often do we pause in our efforts and ask God to stir, anoint, and equip us for the journey? Remember that we are always learning and practicing the way of Jesus, who blesses and teaches us to live his way of love.
In the Labyrinth: Practicing the Way of Love in the Pattern of Jesus
Loving our neighbor takes formation, practice, and commitment. How will each of us learn to be reconcilers, healers, and justice-bearers in Jesus’ name? How could we practice sharing stories, growing relationship across dividing walls, and seeking Christ in the “other”?
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The Kingdom of God could use some demonstration plots [of the Beloved Community]. Dr. Clarence Jordan used this image in founding Koinonia Farms outside of Americus, Georgia. The idea is to carry out the Christian faith in some places in such a public way that others see the Gospel of Jesus Christ being lived out today. How might your congregation be a demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God? First, you would need to be living out the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ in such a way as to get others thinking. Second, “demonstration plots” are created in public places so that farmers can watch the progress of the crops or methods used in the experimental garden. How might your congregation live out the Gospel in a way the neighbors will notice, not for the sake of your church so much as for the sake of the Gospel? ~ The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary (Episcopal Diocese of Georgia)
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