Community
We invite you to explore a variety of resources. We have categorized them by activity, and they represent a variety of approaches to living a Christian life. This menu is not designed as a “to-do” list, but rather as an offering for individuals to sample and find the activities that bring them closer to God in this particular practice.
Gathering in community is an important part of our Christian faith. From the earliest days of the church, Jesus’ disciples worshipped together, learned together, prayed together and served together. God invites us into this community in which we live, work, and serve, and it becomes the setting for our Christian life. As we are in relationship with God, we are in relationship with the rest of God’s creation in community.
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”
Watch
Fuller Studio: Brad Strawn, Evelyn and Frank Freed Professor of the Integration of Psychology and Theology, emphasizes the need to practice one’s spirituality in an embodied and often communal manner in order to mature, just like any other arena. (3 minutes)
Tell Me Something Good: On Episode 3 of Tell Me Something Good, Rebecca Hall visits with hosts Marcus and Jerusalem about her work with intentional small groups at The Abbey, and how they have blossomed during the pandemic in surprising ways. (36 minutes)
Society of St. John the Evangelist: In this video, The Rev. Becky Zartman is in conversation with Brs. Luke Ditewig, David Vryhof, Jonathan Maury and Nicholas Bartoli to discuss Community. (15 minutes)
“There can be no maturity in the spiritual life, no obedience in following Jesus, no wholeness in the Christian life apart from an immersion in, and embrace of, community. I am not myself by myself. Community, not the highly vaunted individualism of our culture, is the setting for living the Christian life.”
Listen
A Jesus-Centered Community / Bible Project
Today we look at a story in Matthew, chapter 9. Each story makes a unique claim on Jesus’s identity, about his character, and the kind of communities that Jesus came to create. Jesus has brought together a diverse and complicated group of people around his Kingdom of God announcement. He’s labeled a rebel by the Jewish community, but today we are going to explore the method and mindset that is underneath Jesus’ mission of creating these really unique Kingdom of God communities. (56 minutes)
Cultivating Spaces Where Jesus is Loved / Jill Weber (Renovaré)
Jill Weber is a prayer missionary and author who for the last five years has been establishing a new monastic community at the Waverley Abbey Estate in the U.K. Her desire is to cultivate “thin spaces” where Jesus is loved. (45 minutes)
Christ Formed Community / Oliver Crisp (Fuller Studio)
Oliver Crisp, former professor of systematic theology, speaks about what it looks like to be a worshiping community continually shaped and transformed by Christ. (12 minutes)
Read
Jane Austen, Community, and the Church / article by Mary Grahame Hunter
From Earth and Altar magazine
Families as Small Monastic Communities / article by Lacy Finn Borgo
From Renovaré
The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love / book by James Bryan Smith
Do
Participate
Participate in the St. Peter’s community as we worship, pray, serve, and learn. Find opportunities in person and online, or let us know how we can join you in faithful community.
Journeying with Community
We invite you to see the Way of Love as a journey that includes the community, which provides a place for discernment, sometimes challenging us and other times affirming us. Communities celebrate and mark important moments along the journey. (from the Way of Love, 12.13.19)
WORSHIP: Pray for each person as they receive communion. Imagine who you’d like to see at church next week. Invite that person to join you.
GO: Choose to take a different route to work, to school, or to play today. Whom or what did you encounter differently?
LEARN: Read Luke 1:64. When Zechariah could finally speak, he began by praising God. For what can you praise God? Share on social media or with a friend.
PRAY: Keep a lookout for anyone who might seem lonely, stressed, or sad. Offer this simple invitation: “May I pray for you?” Then offer prayers – silently or aloud – on the person’s behalf as you move through your day.
BLESS: Identify a blessing you have that you could give away. Share this blessing with your church, a local ministry, or your community.
TURN: Turn away from the busyness of the week and turn toward someone who gives you life or to whom you give life. Give thanks.
REST: In Genesis 1-2, God calls the creation “good” and rests. What can you proclaim to be “good” instead of “not enough” as a witness to God’s love for the world today?
Where Your Treasure Is: Psalms that Summon You From Self to Community
by Eugene Peterson. This is a bold book. Peterson is concerned with the "unselfing" of our self-preoccupied, self-bound society through the action of praying together with other believers. He offers insightful, thought-provoking reflections on eleven select psalm-prayers that can help us overcome such things as self-centeredness, self-assertiveness, self-righteousness, self-sufficiency, self-pity, self-service, and self-love.
Pray
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us form godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Prayer for the Unity of the Church
Book of Common Prayer, p. 818
