When we say church what have we said? In the New Testament literature the word for church is eklesia, which literally means “gathered assembly.” It comes from the ancient Greek that was used to describe the public assembly that governed the Polis, Plato’s vision of a city governing themselves in an order that resembled the order of heaven. In Platonic thought all things in earth bear the form of the ideal in heaven. The Greek way of thinking dominates the first century Near East. Common Greek was the so-called international language of the Mediterranean in literature and in commerce. The Greek academy modeled from Egypt to Persia to Rome was the way people were educated. The early church communities and Synagogues were modeled after the public assemblies envisioned by Greek culture. These were communities that served each other in mutuality, the common good being the guiding light, the common good symbolized by the concept of justice, distributive and restorative justice. Plotinus referred to Plato’s Republic first and foremost as an imaginative reflection on justice. Honor and dignity for each member was held up against the shame of slavery and Imperial occupation, so insidious in this world.These were learning communities, communities of intellectual inquiry which sought enlightenment and maturity. The Greek philosophical academy and the eklesia had much in common. They were places, gatherings, that inspired and empowered its people to shape for the better the people of the community gathered, as well as the world around them that they served. These were communities of enlightened change and reform and relevancy.
The post-modern church, some writers argue, is beginning to wake up to this ancient reality. The Church over the centuries in not so small a degree has abdicated its relevancy. It has largely become a private and exclusive organization that has woefully served itself. Our hyper individualistic culture affirms such a church and bids the church to mind its own business, to keep silent about the important matters that face us from generation to generation. To a great degree the church has complied.
Brian McClaren argues that the church might well be waking up to its true calling. The ones that don’t he says will surely die. Church, at its heart, is a community of passionate people who bring their questions and opinions and hopes and dreams; their intellect and imagination, their arguments and quandaries, and their love of neighbor into a community that is committed to maturing into the people God intends them to be; an enlightened community that first and foremost serves our neighbor, the stranger, the lost and the least, a community of healers, a community of nonviolence, stewards of this paradise named Earth….a community that shapes with artful intention the world for the better. We celebrate this high call, this high responsibility, as often as we can in beautiful worship, in prayer and praise. Such a life is praiseworthy beyond all reckoning. We nourish each other and encourage each other for the way ahead. We continuously remind ourselves as a gathered people, who in truth we are: We are God’s people. And we don’t mind our own business. We mind the business of creation; we mind the business of creating with our God the world; reclaiming Eden inch by inch as God would have it. Therefore it is the business of the church to be enlightened citizens going forth into the world, speaking and enacting the truth as best we can, in public, strengthened by our artful gathering…critical mass, we, for the greater good… If we don’t…who will?
