The early Christians were Socialists. Why aren’t we? Part1
Perhaps they didn’t think of themselves as Socialists. Perhaps they were just living in a hostile environment that made Community a necessity for survival and much less an optional lifestyle.
But even if they wouldn’t have thought themselves to be Socialists; at the very least they were exhibiting many of the ideals of Christian Socialism. There was no such thing as private ownership. They lived together. They ate together. They served each other. And as a result, Almighty God blessed their efforts toward a Beloved Community by performing miracles in their midst and adding to their community daily. Let’s look at Acts 2: 42-47 with fresh eyes:
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. [New Living Translation]
This, to me, is an awesome example of what is possible when Humanity commits to “being together” and trusts God to “dangerous” levels. When I say “being together” I mean intentionally working to chip away at the barricades that divide us like the Berlin Wall. This past Saturday, I volunteered with an organization called Baltimore Free Store. As the name suggests, it’s a store where everything is absolutely free. You walk in - see what you want and take it. Or you drop off something that someone else might need. I had great conversation and served alongside people who I wouldn’t get a chance to connect with in my normal daily routine.
They were White, republican, county residents, “Blue Dog” Clinton Democrats, etc. And we were all desperately trying to serve God and our sisters/brothers together…and no one surrendered their preciously guarded socio-political ideology, theological understanding, or world view. One sister said loud and proud, “Heck yea I’m a republican and I LOVE George Bush!” Another guy quipped, “Well, I wish we could go back to the Clinton years” and then he proceeded to criticize Israel for its foreign policy injustices against Palestine. Admittedly, I held my cards close to my chest. After all, this was my first time meeting these people, but on the inside I wondered if they knew if the Black guy in the room was a Pan-Africanist who holds Jeremiah Wright in high esteem, embraces Liberation Theology, and feels a little funny about interracial relationships.
That’s the point. We couldn’t have been more different. However, though we were different and proud of our differences we found the….courage(?) to break down the Berlin Walls in our cultural worldview and serve alongside one another. Not a “Kum Ba Ya” experience in the least, but I did see glimpses of what it would be like to really live out Acts 2: 45-47. The truth of the matter is that Community doesn’t have to mean Uniformity. I am proud of the distinctives that God deposited within me. I love my culture. I love…no you don’t understand….LOVE being an African man and I shouldn’t have to surrender that in order to be a part of the Community - and neither should anyone else. As long as we can look at each other as HUMAN BEINGS and regard the value in each other as Thee Divine does - we can start dislodging those things that divide us, serve each other, share all we have, and I believe experience the miraculous. TOGETHER.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:57 am
While riding buses over the past few weeks through Oaktown California’s rough streets, I had two individuals on separate occasions ask me Reverend, would you ask the ministers to come outside of their churches, onto the streets and help us? Only in America I suspect, a nation with social work schools, social security and thousands of churches … has the attempted demonization of the term ’social’ and its extension ‘socialism’ been so successful. The ministry of Jesus Christ at its core contained within it both a spiritual and a social dimension!
Unfortunately, not only in the public sector but in some of our churches has the social aspect of Christ’s ministry been relegated to secondary status, even pastors are guilty of that practice! What happened to the storehouse for the people? Aren’t the funds being provided for the luxury car driving, first-class flying, I have my own plane(s), big house, vacationing and sabbatical-ing suit wearing and smiling reverends being misued? In many instances, the prelate… is phat enough?
Too many Christians including ministers have followed the erroneous behavior of the Apostles [see Acts chapter 6]. The Apostles mistakenly believed that they should not leave the Gospel to wait on tables, not realizing that the Gospel was and is - waiting on tables, they wouldn’t have not have left, rather they would have fulfilled the Gospel.
Why wouldn’t they wait on tables? Why won’t the majority of our pastors today wait on tables today anymore? Jesus likened himself to bread coming down from heaven, and he not only fed the crowds with the word but daily he waited on tables, visited the homes of the people and the sick, walked among the people, prayed for the people…, and he did not send a subordinate in his place. Today, you would be hard-pressed to get an appointment with ‘his or her highnesses, individuals who were called to serve, not to be served as is too often the practice, or to get past his or her gatekeepers/security teams!
The men that the Apostles appointed to wait on tables rose to the top of the food chain, no pun intended. Consider the great work that deacon-evangelist Philip accomplished, a man appointed to ‘wait on tables’ in Samaria and elsewhere, outstripping the known works of the majority of the Apostles. Our Apostles today won’t leave the confines of their ministerial offices to go and pray for the sick, to walk the streets among the needy and downtrodden, to help feed the poor (they send their young protégés & deacons to do that). Why, because they might be teeing up at the time of someone else’s needs, working out at the gym, hob-nobbing with politicians, getting a haircut or a new suit for Sunday or having the Benz washed, out of town (on the Beach or in Vegas)…!
Too many Americans have bought into a system, the American capitalist secular and church one that asks, “Am I My Brothers Keeper? The mis-influence and mis-education by the worldly American Capitalist economic system along with its politics have twisted our minds, and it is in place in our churches instead of God’s system. Review the annual church budget, and lconsider how the funds are being distributed. Aside from the infrastructure the next biggest expense is the pastor’s salary, insurance payments, retirement, expenses…!
Compare that with the amount that is being spent Peter, ‘to feed my sheep, lambs…’! Will we write checks on occasions, money to be distributed to those in need, and not all of them are poor? Of course the answer is yes, and afterwards we run off and buy a 100K vehicle, a $200 pair of shoes, more suits, dresses & shoes that we don’t need…, then we tear down our current barns to purchase a 6-10,000 square feet one - while others suffer, are homeless and our kids are without jobs. We refuse to divest and to invest in a sustainable solution - the one by design that God provided us!
God provided enough sustenance and resources in the Earth from its inception to provide food and water …, not only for humans but even for the animals, the insects and the birds - and that process has lasted for centuries if not millions of years (sorry Bishop Usher). Why isn’t it working? It is because of hoarding, selfishness, unequal distributions and the politization of caring for others?
If we were to return to God’s principles, especially the people who are called by God’s name, and tear ourselves away from American Capitalist greed principles - poverty and the underserved would disappear (both spiritual and natural), there is plenty enough for everyone to share. I have been discoursing with a member of the Obama team telling him the same thing. We MUST not continue to repeat the mistakes of the past. It is time to divest and replace the current model, particularly in black America, with a model that works for ALL PEOPLE. Our excess and overabundance is someone else’s need, it was intended for someone else!
August 23rd, 2008 at 3:26 am
Great article anyway Reverend Brown,
Jesus and his untidy crew of the educated, the unlearned and the ignorant were revolutionaries - his motley crew turned the world upside!
The revolutionary spirit today has apparently been doused with pacifism. I can recall when most of us were afraid of Malik El Shabbaz, and he turned out to be right! Jesus knew that he was considered an anarchist, but yet he spoke truth to power both politically, and to religious groups!