buy from amazon.com
buy from amazon.co.uk
Community
So far on our tour we have established the concept of Yahweh Elohim, who is Existence or Being, life itself, the ground of all being and the sum of all divinity; we have established an ethic with no list of requirements or prohibitions but instead the invitation to rediscover our own integrity, and through that the fullness of life; and we have recognised a holy book which is a tour of all religions, then an invitation to freedom from both law and licentiousness, living no longer according to the kingdoms of this world but according to the realm of the divine, the kingdom of the air, and the single law of love.
In theory we could take all these riches and meditate on them alone. To do so would be fully in keeping with the direction of contemporary culture, a culture where people live in ever smaller households, manage their own affairs on the basis of a supposed self-sufficiency, carefully guard their privacy and personal interests, and interact with society principally to demand their rights; in short, are almost entirely alone.
This is not what the western tradition commends. Instead, it calls us to gather together. It calls us to community.
‘Do not neglect to assemble together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another.’287 ‘As the body is made up of many parts, so it is with Christ. The eye cannot say to the hand, I do not need you, and the head cannot say to the feet, I do not need you. You are the body of Christ, and each of you a part of it.’288 ‘Those who were baptised devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer’.289
The custom of gathering creates space in the week to meditate on life and love; an opportunity to contemplate the week past and the week beginning – and our entire situation – in the context of our highest ideals and dreams; and to do all this in the company of others who share our ideals.
Like many who become disillusioned with their church or denomination, or the role (especially the political role) of religion worldwide, I went through a phase of suspecting that all organised religion was necessarily corrupt and corrupting; and yet when understood and maintained in these essential terms – that people of goodwill freely associate together for mutual support as they seek to live by their highest ideals – no harm and only good can come.
287 Hebrews 10:25
288 1 Corinthians 12:12,21,27
289 Acts 2:42. ‘The breaking of bread’ is shorthand for the sacred meal which is the mass.