What is Church?

While flipping through Wright's "Jesus and the Victory of God" tonight, I ran across this quote I had underlined:

"Jesus...envisaged that, scattered around Palestine, there would be small groups of people loyal to himself, who would get together to encourage one another, and would act as members of a family, sharing some sort of common life and, in particular, exercising mutual forgiveness. It was because this way of life was what it was, while reflecting the theology it did, that Jesus' whole movement was thoroughly, and dangerously, 'political'. And...the main characteristic of the cells that Jesus called into being was of course loyalty to Jesus himself."

There are several things in this quote that stand out to me. First, if you were to nail me to the wall and make me answer the question, "What is church?" right now, my answer would probably sound very similar to what Wright describes above:

- "Small groups of people loyal to himself..." Small not because small is "better" in some arbitrary way, but small as in nimble. Unencumbered. A minority. Small groups of people can live and enact change without a lot of fanfare or organization. This is important for what the rest of the quote describes.

- "...who would get together to encourage one another..." Encouragement. "One-anothering". People undergoing transition cannot survive alone. We need the proximity of others who are changing as we are changing. Attending a conference and hearing a cool speaker or meeting a few people who live hundreds of miles away is not enough. Internet / phone relationships are not enough. Transition requires flesh and blood, day in day out connection. You can argue with me all you want about online community, but sorry, it just will not substitute for the kind of relationship necessary during transition.

- "...and would act as members of a family..." Like it or not, church, the "gathered ones", constitutes a family. Families take care of one another. Families don't give up on each other when someone pulls a Ted Haggard. Families don't just work together or relate to each other because they like the same things. They are blood, and blood sticks together.

- "...sharing some kind of common life..." Notice Wright says they shared "some kind" of common life. Jesus didn't appear to be too concerned about the nuts and bolts, just that his disciples were together in whatever they did. Obviously, when Christian communities began to form after the resurrection, they didn't all look exactly the same. I think Jesus expected this, but he also expected that his followers would live in a way that challenged the status quo. Hence, the next portion of the quote...

- "...in particular, exercising mutual forgiveness." Forgiveness, along with friendship, are probably two of the most underappreciated and dismissed practices in our culture. Yet, for the apprentice of Jesus, they are in some cases the only real weapons we have in destroying evil. We challenge our children to forgive when a bully at school makes fun of them, but when another adult challenges our autonomy, we strike back with violence. Imagine if we saw and practiced forgiveness for what it really is in the kingdom - a subversive battle axe of the Spirit.

- "...and the main characteristic...was loyalty to Jesus himself." We love each other as family, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, but our loyalty belongs to Jesus. We relate to one another on that basis alone. If our loyalties lie in institutions or with leaders, what happens when those institutions or leaders fail us or hurt us? If our loyalty is with Jesus, we are free to forgive those that harm us and then move forward with what God is doing.

Wright mentions how this vision of Jesus was "dangerously political". In light of the politics of our time, I think the same could be true of groups of people who strive to follow this vision now. The kingdom of God is fundamentally about God's will and authority. Those who have given themselves over to that authority run the risk of challenging the other "authorities" present in this world. All the more reason, that if you aim to live as an apprentice of the Master, you better do it with some others who are doing the same.