Practicing “one-to-anotherness”

It's very fashionable nowadays to talk about "community." As I've noted before, we'd often prefer community as a commodity, something we can choose to "have" when we like and put on the shelf when it's inconvenient.

I came across a blog post today that listed most of the commands and statements regarding "one another" in the New Testament (expanding a list from Gerhard Lohfink). It provides a picture of the church that is overwhelmingly communal. I would urge you to read through the list and see what kind of a community in conjures up in your mind. If this list represents the church priorities of the New Testament, how close are they do the priorities of our churches? How concerned are we with loving one another, caring for one another, bearing one another's burdens, forgiving one another?

The questions at the end are from the original post and are a great place to start in terms of thinking through how these can move from nice ideas to concrete realities. Enjoy the list!

• “be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50)
• “you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14)
• “love one another… Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34)
• “love for one another” (John 13:35)
• “love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12)
• “I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another” (John 15:17)
• “outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom 12:10)
• “live in harmony with one another” (Rom 12:16)
• “love one another” (Rom 13:8)
• “no longer pass judgment on one another” (Rom 14:13)
• “welcome one another” ((Rom 15:7)
• “admonish one another” (Rom 15:14)
• “greet one another with a holy kiss” (Rom 16:16)
• “wait for one another” (1 Cor 11:33)
• “have the same care for one another” (1 Cor 12:25)
• “agree with one another” (2 Cor 13:11)
• “through love become slaves to one another” (Gal 5:13)
• “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2)
• “bear with one another lovingly” (Eph 4:2)
• “be kind and compassionate to one another” (Eph 4:32)
• “be subject to one another” (Eph 5:21)
• “bear with one another…forgive one another” (Col 3:13)
• “abound in love for one another” (1 Thess 3:12)
• “you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another” (1 Thess 4:9)
• “encourage one another” (1 Thess 4:18)
• “comfort one another…build one another up” (1 Thess 5:11)
• “be at peace with one another…do good to one another” (1 Thess 5:13)
• “do good to one another” (1 Thess 5:15)
• “exhort one another every day” (Heb 3:13)
• “provoke one another to love and good deeds” (Heb 10:24)
• “not neglecting to meet together…but encouraging one another” (Heb 10:25)
• “confess your sins to one another…pray for one another” (Jas 5:16)
• “love one another from the heart” (1 Pet 1:22)
• “have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another” (1 Pet 3:8)
• “be hospitable to one another without complaining” (1 Pet 4:9)
• “serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received” (1 Pet 4:10)
• “meet one another with humility” (1 Pet 5:5)
• “greet one another with a kiss of love” (1 Pet 5:14)
• “have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7)
• “this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 John 3:11)
• “we know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another” (1 John 3:14)
• “we ought to lay down our lives for one another” (1 John 3:16)
• “love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1 John 3:23)
• “let us love one another, because love is from God” (1 John 4:7)
• “we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11)
• “if we love one another, God lives in us” (1 John 4:12)
• “let us love one another” (2 John 5)

To my mind, these admonitions makes some very specific assumptions
about the depth, intimacy, and centrality of mutuality in the life of
the church. The question for us seems to be, what kind of church life
must we have for these commands to possibly be followed? How do we live
this together? What kind of rearrangment of our lives must be made for
us to even be able to intelligibly hear, let alone respond
appropriately to these biblical admonitions? What does a life truly
shaped by the praxis of togetherness look like in our own context?