Didache 2
Welcome to the gathering of those who follow Jesus as a way of life! That’s what we’re about today and every time we gather.
We’re going to share food – ritual food in communion, great treats during coffee hour, maybe some last garden produce on the abundance table.
We’re going to check in on each other. We really want to know how your week went. What struggles you’ve dealt with. What celebrations you’ve had. If your loved ones are getting better or still under the weather. This is a place where when people ask how you are, they want an honest answer, even if it takes a while.
We’ve already spent time talking about how we put faith into action. Some of us have already voted for people who share our values. Some of us have helped a neighbor or received help. We’ve been generous with money to help neighbors in crisis. We’ve shared our building so that others can gather.
This week in a conversation someone reminded me that I’m always about creating community. They were right. I think Jesus was about creating community because God is about creating community. It matters how we treat one another – friend or stranger. I matters if we put our values into action in our daily life. The Didache is a training manual for inviting people to function as part of a healthy community.
We started with the most important guide: love God. Love your neighbor. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Second was a section about not resisting abuse by soldiers or others in power, a way to stay safe in a violent world. Then a bit about generosity – sharing what you’ve got but not taking advantage of the generosity of others. Which brings us to chapter 2, a list of rules for right behavior. Do you want to show your love for God and each other? Here are several lists of things not to do.
They are modeled after the 10 commandments, which are part of the 613 laws of the Hebrew scriptures. Giving new members of the community instructions in the format that God’s people had followed for centuries grounds them in a spiritual tradition. It makes them part of a venerable past. But these commandments have been tweaked. They leave out the rules about God – not taking God’s name in vain, not worshiping other Gods, not making idols. Those would have been a big leap for Gentile converts, people who had always lived in a society filled with temples to many gods. Love God, but you can work up to understanding what it means that this God is greater than all the others. You can learn that by living in and with that God through this group of followers. First, let’s learn how to live together with these people.
Then there are rules of things not to do – things that break community.
There are things that matter as universal rules: don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie.
There are things pertinent to first century society: don’t corrupt boys, don’t leave infants exposed to die, don’t make potions or consult diviners.
There are things that help people get along: don’t hold grudges, don’t be a hypocrite or bad-mannered or arrogant.
People who wanted to join the community would memorize these lists. They’d talk with their mentor about how their days went and whether or not they had lived up to these guidelines.
It’s good to have norms of behavior to guide us. There are a couple of things these lists are not.
They are not exhaustive. They are examples of things not to do. When you’ve mastered these things, you’ve learned how to show love to God and neighbor. When something not on the list comes up, you have a way to test it against other behaviors to see if it shows a loving attitude. You can make your own list of additional rules as you go.
They aren’t salvation. People were working with a mentor to master these life skills before they became full members of the community. But no one said, “Do this and you will have eternal life. Don’t do it and you’re toast.” At times in Christianity the commandments or the rules have been a litmus test – get it right or else. Since no one ever gets life 100% right, that can be discouraging. At other times we’ve said since you’ll always fail, Jesus will forgive you. Unfortunately, we add another litmus test – if you believe the right things. Too often that focuses on what we get wrong, too.
I’m seeing this early community as a group of people pulling for one another to get things right. Believing that people can master a healthy way of living together, support each other in learning good habits and forgive each other when someone has a bad day. Love God, love your neighbor, be generous with second chances.
I love the summary section: You will not hate any person, but some you will reprove, and concerning others you will pray, and some you will love more than your soul. Isn’t that a good description of healthy community? We love each other. Sometimes we have to have hard, honest conversations about what’s not working. We can do that with love and agree to make adjustments. Sometimes we just have to pray about how to love someone who gets on our nerves – present company excepted. And some folks become soulmates for life. A good variety makes a healthy group.
I’m glad we left our values painted on our windows while we moved on to this new focus, because our values represent the things we’d put on the list of rules to follow – suggestions of how we want to live together. They remind us that we’re working to create a way of living that honors God and supports each other. We are becoming community, and in the process we’re “infecting” the community around us with love and all good things. We’re contagious as a way of life that gives hope – that the world can be better; that God can live among us, that we can become God’s love for all.