Sunday, September 21, 2008
Christians Living in Community...and a lot of why's.
3:14 PM by Christi Bowman
We visited
JPUSA today. It is a Christian community on the North side of Chicago.
What exactly is a "Christian community" you might ask, and how does it look differant than going to church?
For JPUSA it looks like a big apartment building ("The Friendly Towers") where Christians choose to live out what they read about in Acts 2:44-47 and Acts 4:32-35. That's right, modern day Americans, forgoing the tireless pursuit of the American dream, and choosing, intentionally, to live with one another, like family, and put their income in a common purse and live out loud, together, in their community. I urge you to click on the link above and check it out for yourself in their own words. The worship services are held in the lobby of the complex, and those services are open to the public.
I liked what I saw. I dream one day of being a part of a community like that. I am tired of living without community. I am tired of living for just MY family, MY house, and MY cars. I want to find a group of people who are radically sold out and want to live radically sold out lives together, everyday. I want to be where Christianity means more than showing up for church services on Sunday and Wednesday nights. I want to intentionally live simply right in the midst of the least of these and minister to them on a daily basis. I want to live for the Kingdom and constantly pursue its interests. I am done, no, I am so much more than done, living my life the way Americans think I am entitled to live it...the way that makes the most sense...the way that makes people the most comfortable. I am done living for this life. I am literally dead to this life, and it is dead to me. I need people...people stronger than myself that I can come along side and learn from and be discipled by.
It was a breath of fresh air today, seeing community in action. It was incredible to see people believing in the hope of such a radical Christianity that they are willing to live differently because of it. These people do not live like the world, but they do live right smack dab in the middle of it, and they are making a difference. This community has been in existence since the 1970's, and I wonder why it is so uncommon, unfathomable, and even unpalatable for the majority of us to live this way? Why are we not tired of feeling isolated? How have we become so numb by the world we live in, that we are no longer connected with that deep deep longing in the soul for so much more than this? Why do we live and look so much like the world?
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