Friday 24 April 2020

Psalm: Psalm 30

Background

New converts often show great zeal and commitment to their faith and practice and this certainly seems to have been the case in the Early Church. The three thousand newly baptized members of the Christian community “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (v. 42). Each one of those four elements were important and are still key to our life of discipleship today.

The idea of holding all things in common (verse 44) is only really practised now in monastic communities. However, I think our Methodist Connexion works on a similar principle of sharing. Our resources (which include people, property and pounds) are not all controlled by the local church, and certainly not by any single individual!

I have never really liked the word ‘fellowship’ (verse 42)!  The Greek word is koinonia, which has much deeper and richer associations – although difficult, I admit, to express in a single English word. Koinonia is connected to the word koinonos, which means companion or partner. This is the word used to describe the relationship that James and John had with Simon Peter as fishermen (Luke 5:10). Koinonia is a close-knit community of people with deep bonds. It can also be translated as 'communion' – a word that we now primarily associate in church with the sharing of bread and wine. (This is the word used in 1 Corinthians 10:16.) For me, the celebration of Holy Communion is (or should be!)  an experience of koinonia – an intimate sharing and participation that binds us both to one another and to Christ.

I imagine that the twelve disciples knew what koinonia felt like because they had lived it day by day with Jesus. I wonder how that changed for them as the Christian community grew. This passage affirms that the Early Church was able to know and experience koinonia with several thousand people as well as with a dozen. The implication is that this was possible because they met in small house groups (“they broke bread at home” – verse 46). That practise of meeting as a small class as well as in a larger worship setting was also one of the strengths of the early Methodist movement.  

To Ponder:

• When have you experienced koinonia?
• What words best describe or translate koinonia for you?