Resurrection, Individualism, and Community

Strictly speaking, the problems that the Apostle Paul faces with his Corinthian congregation have little contact with my church work. Speaking in tongues is not much practiced in the Presbyterian churches I've known, and so I have little cause to warn folks about it. Yet despite my unfamiliarity with speaking in tongues, I think Paul has some important insights.

Paul's concerns with tongues is not about right and wrong religious practices. Instead it is about the impact such practices have on the good of the community. The problem with tongues is its individual focus. It does not build up or instruct the church.

Paul is not against private spiritual practices that help draw one closer to God, but his understanding of faith is very much rooted in community. Any faith that does not get lived out in love toward the other, in a community of mutual love and support, is not the new life in Christ that Paul has found.

I wonder what Paul would think of American Christianity, especially some versions' tendency to focus on a personal, individual relationship with God/Jesus. I also wonder what he would say about the current fascination with meditation, prayer techniques, and spirituality that has emerged in many congregations. I don't know that he would have any objections to them per se, but I do suspect he would add a caveat about their needing to build up the body of Christ.

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Today I began to think seriously about what I might say on Easter. The story is so familiar. The women go to the tomb early in the morning only to find it empty, to hear that Jesus is risen. Should I even preach? Why not simply read the story and sing that Christ is risen? But as I've thought about this, I've found myself thinking a bit along the lines of Paul. If the proclamation, "He is risen!" does not build up the community, if it does not make a difference in the world, then have we perhaps misunderstood the meaning of the empty tomb and Jesus' resurrection?

Paul says that his encounter with the risen Christ changes everything. It makes him an entirely new person. What he was has died. What he has become is a new creation. Paul's faith is not about a vague hope for something better when he dies, and it is not about personal spiritual fulfillment. It is about God entering into history in a manner that has creation itself groaning in anticipation, that creates a new community, the church, that bears God's love into the world. The resurrection has profound social dimensions. God's reaching out to the world in Jesus requires a reaching out and a reconciliation between neighbors. God's love cannot simply be savored for its own sake. It must be shared.

So then, how do Easter and the power of resurrection transform and direct the work of the community where you live and worship?

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