THE JESUS
CLIQUE
“They
devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers.”
This
verse from Acts describes for us one of the first post resurrection Christian
communities. While it may seem odd to say it this way, it is a description of a
Jesus Clique. In everyday usage the word clique is normally used in a
pejorative sense, in that it refers to a group that remains aloof or separated
from others. However, a secondary meaning or usage of the word clique refers to
a tightly bound association or group that is devoted to its own purposes or
agenda, without regard for what is going on outside of the group.
It
is in this sense that we can say that these verses from Acts describe a Jesus
clique. These verses describe a community formed and focused on God’s action
through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is God’s
story that defines a Jesus clique, not the world’s version of reality.
Moreover, it is God’s story and the holy agenda that comes along with it that
drives this community of faith.
Accordingly,
then, this community of believers studied together, they supported each other
through genuine friendship, they shared meals together, and they regularly came
together before God to worship. Of course they remained separate individuals,
yet their definitive identity – that is to say the identity that shaped and
formed them for life in the world - was not individualistic in nature but was
corporate and community defined.
This
holy community of faith did not form in a vacuum; it was born and lived in a
particular context. If we read these verses in the context of the overall flow
in Acts we see that this Jesus clique was formed in response to the preaching
of the Word of God. Following Peter’s powerful sermon on Pentecost morning, a
sermon announcing the good news of God’s forgiveness revealed through Jesus’
resurrection, community of faithful believers was gathered, formed, and began
its corporate life together.
The
key verse in this passage is verse 42, “They devoted themselves
to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the
prayers.” As most of us know, in our day and time mission
statements are much in vogue for businesses and organizations. In many ways,
verse 42 is just that, it is a mission statement for the church of Jesus
Christ. It outlines specific actions and tasks and is succinctly descriptive of
why this organization exists. Indeed, these four basic elements of the Jesus
clique have continued to serve as the very foundation for our common life as
the church across 2,000 years.
If
we examine these four elements closely, we see the basic outline of the life of
the church today. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching...” Indeed, the act of teaching the faith, of telling
God’s wonderful story, is an essential task of the church. Throughout history
God has been active in the world revealing his will. Scripture is the record of
God’s actions. For us to tell God’s story, it is necessary that we teach the
record of God’s actions. It is only natural then that we are called to devote
ourselves to the apostles’ teaching. Making God’s story our story, is an
essential task of discipleship.
Secondly,
as God’s children claimed and redeemed by the waters of baptism we are called
to share fellowship with each other. As we learn more and more about God’s will
for us, we learn that we were created to be together before God. Together, we
share joy and sadness. Together, we grow and mature in the faith. Together, we
experience increased commitment, and together we endure the doubts and
insecurities of trusting in a God that we cannot see and trying to live out a
love that makes no worldly sense.
The
Greek word used here is Koinonia, which is translated into the English
fellowship. Koinonia, however, means far more than simply being friends with
others or sharing time with them, it implies a profound sense of belonging to
one another that transcends the apparent and often superficial divisions of
human life. In a community that shares koinonia there is a bond that exceeds
commonality of interest or like mindedness. Koinonia is the bond of divine
fellowship.
The
real life example of koinonia used in this passage referring to the community
sharing its wealth is really not so much about the tangible commingling of
wealth, although they did do that, in a deeper way this example teaches us that
in a Jesus clique the sense of belonging to each other is stronger than the
individual desire to accumulate wealth. Another way to express this is to say
that the overall health of the corporate body takes precedence over individual
need. This character of our communal life can be fully expressed without having
a joint bank account.
The
third element mentioned in this text is the “breaking of bread”.
When we eat with one another something truly special can happen. As we think
about this part of our common life let me share this old story with you about
three little boys, a Jewish boy, a Catholic boy, and a Presbyterian boy, and a
teacher giving her class a homework assignment. The teacher told the class to
bring in for show and tell a symbol of their respective faith traditions.
The
next day during show and tell time the Jewish boy stood up, and proudly pulled
out a yamauka and put it on his head. Next the Catholic boy stood up, and
eagerly pulled out of his bag a shiny crucifix. The Presbyterian boy walked to
the front of the room carrying a big canvas bag. He stood up straight and with
great reverence removed a beautiful glass casserole dish from its carrying bag.
We
laugh about our covered dish suppers and poke fun at ourselves over them.
Sometimes we may even moan to ourselves about having to prepare yet one more
dish of scalloped potatoes and ham, but the reason we continue to have covered
dish suppers and other occasions of breaking bread together goes far beyond the
simple needs of physical nourishment. When we share a meal with someone our
defenses come down. Eating with others we are vulnerable, its hard to fight
back or run away when we have mouthful of casserole, or a handful of chicken.
Eating with others builds up trust among the members of the community.
The
fourth element of the Jesus clique mentioned in this verse is the devotion to
“the prayers”. Most often when we think of prayer we think of an individual
engaged in direct relationship with God. This phrase certainly does mean that,
and it means something else as well; it means the community gathered together
in relationship before God. This is exactly what we are doing right now.
The
beginning of every act of worship is the act of prayer. Prayer is the dual act
of opening the heart to receive God’s presence and to release praise to God.
Worship lies at the very core of our identity as the children of God. While we
can, and in fact are called to worship God individually, this text clearly
teaches that we are equally called to corporately devote ourselves to worship,
to “the prayers”.
For
adults, across the centuries the church has devoted enormous resources to
establishing this model of being together in the world. We have developed
intricate and sophisticated theological doctrines in order to interpret God’s
story as it is recorded in scripture. We have implemented creative and
meaningful ways of fostering fellowship and nurturing friendships. We have
offered numerous opportunities for the breaking of bread among the people of
God. Our various traditions and denominations have expended tremendous efforts
to develop and practice scripturally based models of worship, the prayers.
All
of this is well and good, and we need to continue these efforts. However,
speaking honestly, there are parts of the body of Christ which have not
received equal attention; our youth and young children. Just as it is true for
adults, young people need to devote themselves to “the Apostles’ teaching and
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
We
in the church are called to help them do this in an age and developmentally
appropriate manner. In another time, we in the church could depend on the
society around us to help share our faith with our children and youth. The
harsh reality today is that our culture and our society do not share our views
on faith and God’s presence.
In
many instances, in years past our public school systems in this country
functioned as de-facto protestant parochial schools. This is no longer true.
While we have many good and faithful disciples of Jesus Christ who are teachers
and administrators in our schools, the rules have changed. They are not allowed
to explicitly make reference to their faith in their teaching or in their
decision-making. We cannot rely on the schools to help us inculcate faith.
In
another time, our media and news outlets operated with at least a presumption
of faith. However, Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and CNN and Fox News, give a nod
to faith only when they perceive it will enhance their profits. We in the
church cannot simply presume that media influences our children and youth come
into contact with will help us in the task of building young disciples.
As
we seek to share our faith and nurture children and youth in the love of God,
the reality is that we in the church today face a world that is at best
dismissive of us and at worst actively against our beliefs.
Our
faith calls us to find new ways of helping our children and youth. Given the
realities of the world we live in this means we are called to redouble our
efforts to create, nurture, foster Christian identity in children and youth. It
means we are called to create new opportunities for children and youth to
gather and live in their faith. While these tasks may demand more sacrifice
from us in time and resources, we are called to encourage and nurture in our
youth and children the Jesus clique. They need our help to define their identity
according to God’s story and not the story of the world. We are called to
nurture them in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ in order that they may
experience the power of selflessness to change the world.
To
counter the power and influences of the world around us will require the
strength and presence of the Holy Spirit in order to succeed. However, we can
and we will succeed! We will succeed because God has called us to do this, “They
devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, and the breaking
of bread and the prayers.” There is no power greater than
the power of God. So may it be for us. Amen.
Reverend Marc V. Mason
April 17, 2005
Trinity Presbyterian Church
Travelers Rest, SC