The Great Experiment (part1)

And so it began, the greatest experiment the world has ever known. Now that we had seen and touched the face of God, was it possible for a human community to actually live out this astonishing ideal? There is a lot riding on it. One of the things Jesus asked of His Father on that dark night appears to be dependent on this unity. “That the world may believe.” In other words, when Christians live in loving fellowship with God and each other, the world “may believe.” There are two ways, in English, that this phrase can be taken. It may indicate possibility; in other words, “It’s possible that the world will believe if they see your love.” Or it may mean ability; that is, “Your love will make them able to believe it. They can’t, if they don’t see love as a result.”

No doubt both of these are true. Some people never will believe in the admittedly outlandish story that the Creator of all things came down and became a baby, lived without sin, and died to make it somehow possible for us to be reunited with this Creator. Let’s face it—that is outlandish! Who could believe it? Those who see that the result of believing it is a depth of love they have never experienced may believe. It seems that the Holy Spirit can produce a mature and profound Christian love and unity that may also seem outlandish and unbelievable. Our love of each other, therefore, takes on a truly sacramental value; that is to say, it connects us to a fuller life of the Spirit, as does any sacrament, and it reaches out to make a connection as well to anyone nearby that it can reach.

After praying this eloquent prayer, Jesus proceeded to demonstrate the power of this outrageous love in the most profound way possible. He walked steadfastly to hell and back for us. He suffered, thinking only of Peter and His other disciples, the women crying by the way, His mother. He died, paying attention to the soldiers, and the seeking lost one dying beside Him. He rose again in a flash of lightning, yet His first thought was for Mary Magdalene, and His second appears to have been for the guilt and shame Peter was bowed under. He comforted them, fed them, tried to give them some last words, breathed the Spirit on them, and finally went back to His Father, leaving the work He had begun to be finished by shaky human hands. Heaven and all its angels united with the handful of bewildered believers who went back to the Upper Room to pray. And study. And discuss. And debate. And pray some more. Until they were “ of one mind.” (Acts 1:14) On Pentecost, the day the Jews celebrate the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai, the Holy Spirit crashed into their lives in a new and more powerful manifestation.

Three thousand people, people who had seen the crucifixion a few weeks earlier, people who might have seen resurrected people of earlier ages wandering around, people, probably, who had shouted, “Crucify Him!” Three thousand people joined the new community that day. What do you do with 3,000 new believers when there are only 120 of you to begin with. What do you do? Acts 2:42-47 lays out the beginning of the Grand Experiment:

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Verse 42 lists four things they were devoting themselves to; the foundational elements of the new Christian fellowship:

1. Apostles’ teaching

2. Fellowship

3. Breaking of bread

4. Prayer

There is more detail added in verse 46. They were in the temple daily (not necessarily all of them at once), and this may, at this early point, have even been where the apostles were teaching. Perhaps they taught in the courts, as Jesus had. This would explain why so many were being added. Many of those who had heard Jesus, but hadn’t really believed or hadn’t committed, did now. The fellowship and breaking of bread, verse 46 says, took place in homes. So it is clear that this throng of people were somehow organized into smaller fellowships, ones that fit into houses. Prayer, of course, was everywhere, as it always is.

All of these are things Christians do today. We, too, devote ourselves to the preaching and teaching of the leaders among us. We, too, value fellowship and friendship, both at weekly worship services and in our homes. We break bread together, in communion services, at home meals, church potluck meals, picnics, and pretty much any other chance we have to eat together. We pray. The healthiest of us pray daily, and pray all day long. We strive to live our lives in the constant atmosphere of prayer.

Why, then, does this description of early unity seem so different to us? Why do we read these verses with such wishfulness for what seems a vanished and elusive joy? If the church today wants to replicate and continue this experience of communal living, there are several things we must explore. Two major differences strike us.  (continued)