A Gaggle of Christians
It is interesting to see the groups in which we find ourselves. We are social by nature, and from birth we have the need to, desire for, and inevitability of associating with others. This happens with our first social group, which is invariably beyond our control: our family.
Then we grow up and find ourselves amidst a myriad of groups and communities. We go to school, play on sports teams and in bands, join churches, synagogues and mosques, participate in fraternities and sororities, clubs and organizations. From there it is anyone’s guess which groups we’ll join and in what order, from cliques and committees to gangs, panels, boards, taskforces, or councils.
Soon enough, our groups begin to say as much about us as they do about themselves. Cults have a negative connotation as being groups that define their members. Cults can dictate anything from friendships to diet, and those who are not members see only destruction. In the book of Acts, however, we read that the Christian community shared everything, had all things in common, and ate together regularly. Although this might sound cultic to modern ears familiar with Jim Jones or the Branch Davidians, the church of the middle ages soon became more cultic than the early one.
The historic church came together because of a natural need for protection and offered the benefits of authentic community through a proactive social approach. Sadly, because the church began to feel threatened by diversity, it felt the need to keep its members in line and keep the outcasts outcasted. Thus, it developed creeds and doctrines that defined its members. Unfortunately, this same mindset still exists today. Gone are the benefits of natural grouping and in their stead are the definitions.
Perhaps, however, the church takes its lessons from nature. After all, I have never seen a lion roaming amidst a gaggle of geese. Nor have I seen a wolf in a herd of cattle. The wolf stays with his pack and the lion with her pride. There is little chance of one associating with the other.
Although it may seem as though homogeneity rules in the animal kingdom, it is the inter-workings of the groups that produce the beautiful circle of life taught by the movie The Lion King. The pride of lions has no zebras, but it communes with the crossing of zebras that live amidst the savannah. The army of caterpillars has no ant, but it operates through the world of nature so that the colony of ants does its job and the life cycle continues.
Why can humans, who are supposedly wiser than animals, not see the benefits of community and diversity as the animal kingdom does? If the church continues to draw its circle of membership too small, operating only with itself and its homogenous members, it will isolate countless individuals until the church finds itself in a very lonely corner. By not allowing its members to define the group of which they are a part and increase the chance of difference while broadening the chance of harmony, the church will be ill prepared for the world around it – a world full of diversity and pluralism. This will leave the church void of the benefit of beauty. After all, the difference between the flowers is what gives the bouquet its appeal.
Instead, I offer hope for a world in which a gaggle of Christians, a pack of Muslims, a pride of Jews, a herd of Hindus, and a company of atheists fight social injustices. Doing so preserves members of the largest of all families, the human one, lest they be marginalized and forgotten.
To catch a person, you need a really big net. Jesus promised his disciples that if they followed him, they would fish for people. To do this, the church must not be a group that defines its members, offering only like-mindedness and exclusivism. Instead, it must realize that our natural human longing for belonging takes precedence over any selfish elitism. And we in the church must draw the circle wider than our own imagination and stereotypes to include those who seek shelter. Then the church can once again take flight and the gaggle will become a skein.
Then we grow up and find ourselves amidst a myriad of groups and communities. We go to school, play on sports teams and in bands, join churches, synagogues and mosques, participate in fraternities and sororities, clubs and organizations. From there it is anyone’s guess which groups we’ll join and in what order, from cliques and committees to gangs, panels, boards, taskforces, or councils.
Soon enough, our groups begin to say as much about us as they do about themselves. Cults have a negative connotation as being groups that define their members. Cults can dictate anything from friendships to diet, and those who are not members see only destruction. In the book of Acts, however, we read that the Christian community shared everything, had all things in common, and ate together regularly. Although this might sound cultic to modern ears familiar with Jim Jones or the Branch Davidians, the church of the middle ages soon became more cultic than the early one.
The historic church came together because of a natural need for protection and offered the benefits of authentic community through a proactive social approach. Sadly, because the church began to feel threatened by diversity, it felt the need to keep its members in line and keep the outcasts outcasted. Thus, it developed creeds and doctrines that defined its members. Unfortunately, this same mindset still exists today. Gone are the benefits of natural grouping and in their stead are the definitions.
Perhaps, however, the church takes its lessons from nature. After all, I have never seen a lion roaming amidst a gaggle of geese. Nor have I seen a wolf in a herd of cattle. The wolf stays with his pack and the lion with her pride. There is little chance of one associating with the other.
Although it may seem as though homogeneity rules in the animal kingdom, it is the inter-workings of the groups that produce the beautiful circle of life taught by the movie The Lion King. The pride of lions has no zebras, but it communes with the crossing of zebras that live amidst the savannah. The army of caterpillars has no ant, but it operates through the world of nature so that the colony of ants does its job and the life cycle continues.
Why can humans, who are supposedly wiser than animals, not see the benefits of community and diversity as the animal kingdom does? If the church continues to draw its circle of membership too small, operating only with itself and its homogenous members, it will isolate countless individuals until the church finds itself in a very lonely corner. By not allowing its members to define the group of which they are a part and increase the chance of difference while broadening the chance of harmony, the church will be ill prepared for the world around it – a world full of diversity and pluralism. This will leave the church void of the benefit of beauty. After all, the difference between the flowers is what gives the bouquet its appeal.
Instead, I offer hope for a world in which a gaggle of Christians, a pack of Muslims, a pride of Jews, a herd of Hindus, and a company of atheists fight social injustices. Doing so preserves members of the largest of all families, the human one, lest they be marginalized and forgotten.
To catch a person, you need a really big net. Jesus promised his disciples that if they followed him, they would fish for people. To do this, the church must not be a group that defines its members, offering only like-mindedness and exclusivism. Instead, it must realize that our natural human longing for belonging takes precedence over any selfish elitism. And we in the church must draw the circle wider than our own imagination and stereotypes to include those who seek shelter. Then the church can once again take flight and the gaggle will become a skein.
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