A Living Alternative

Perhaps one of the most formative experiences in my life has been that, for nearly 15 years, I have been living in intentional community. The pursuit of genuine community has been increasingly important to Christians. For some, however, the idea (or ideal) can be a romantic notion that fails to recognize the true cost that community exacts.

David Augsburger tells a story that well illustrates this dyanmic:

Long ago in a distant land, a prince dreamed of creating more than a geographical or political kingdom. He dreamed of establishing a community in which all persons were committed to each other in loyalty and equality, where every person sought the welfare of the neighbor even at a cost to the self. So the prince called a great meeting of all the heads of clans, all the wise and trusted people of the land, and dared to tell his dream. Each chieftan and his clan were invited to join in on the foundation of a new society.

As part of the community's inauguration, each was requested to search his cellar for the best wine produced from his ancestral vines. These treasured bottles would be uncorked, poured into a great communal vat, and blended, as the true community it represented, into a common vintage.

"How can I mix my exquisite wine with that of my neighbors?" asked one of the winegrowers invited to the covenanting. "I would sacrafice the unique variety of grape, the special climate of the year, the sweetness of a late harvest, the indefinable magic of bouquet, and I would violate my art as a winemaker. Impossible! Give up my distinct variety? Lose my separate self? I will not be adultared in such a common cup."

So he corked a bottle of tap water, affixed his most beautiful label to the bottle, and at the time of ritual poured the water ceremoniously into the vat. When the convenanting was solemnized, all filled their glasses for the communal draft, the toast that would seal commitment to community. As the cups touched their lips, all knew the truth. It was not wine. It was water. No one had been willing to pay the cost of community.
-from "Dissident Discipleship: A Spirituality of Self-Surrender, Love of God and Love of Neighbor"

This story powerfully illustrates that, for all our intentions about the ideal of community, it is quite easy rationalize our way out of doing what it takes to achieve it. In many ways, as most wine drinkers will attest, there is a legitimacy to the concerns of the winemaker in the story. In the context of our faith communities, our distinctives are most often deeply valued and trial-defined convictions that are far from arbitrary. Is our call to community really a call to reliquish our individuality or unique community distinctives to achieve a reckless mix of uniformity?

I don't believe that this is what Augsburger is suggesting. Rather, he is challenging your all too common instinct to protect our own best interest ahead of the greater good. Too often, in our pursuit to be faithful to Christ to our best understanding, we seek to achieve it by excluding those who would complicate or distract from that end. Scripture teaches us that people will know we are Christians by our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, not just the ones who we selectively include in our circles.

This is a challenge for us, especially in a culture where a new "church community" can be chosen every week by simply driving to another location. Part of the reason why locality is so signficant to missionality is that it requires of us to forge genuine community where we are, willing to allow our distinctives to be changed, shaped and merged into something new. Even if it is not "better" by the measures of success that we so often look to, the unity and love experienced and expressed in solidarity together- achieved the the messy and challenging conflicts that are inevitable to such a process- will be one of our most power evangelistic displays to a watching world.

So many of us have brought water and not wine to the communities to which we are a part. While we go through the motions and give lip service to the value of community, we too often withhold our true loyality and commitment. However, the beauty of our Lord is that He is a God of grace, able to even turn the tepid tap water of our mediocrity into the finest vintage. We must simply trust and follow Him.