Take Ten with Pastor Don

September 19, 2023

Community

Recently one of our sons became part of a song writers’ group. They are known as a “collective.”

I love the word “collective.” It denotes teamwork, collaboration, and creativity on several different levels.

It also is a picture of community. Community, in my mind, is a way of saying that no one person must know it all or do it all. A collective draws from the unique talents of many different people. And they work together to bring about a quality product.

A collective says to all those who are part of the group that they are needed and they have something to contribute.

A collective eliminates “super-stars” or “Lone Rangers.”

I know singers usually get the credit for great songs. But for every great singer, there must be a great song and for every great song, there must be a writer, and there must be someone who can put the words of that great song to a great melody.

I suppose there are a few folks out there that can do it all, but I think it takes more than just one person to consistently produce a great product more than once.

A collective provides an outlet for those who can sing and those who can write, along with those who can play, to put together a God-honoring product that will be a blessing to many.

I’m a strong advocate for collectives. I know of pastoral teams that work together to create sermon series for their churches. Each one contributes out of their uniqueness. I also know of a few brave pastors who have randomly selected a group of people from their congregation to talk to them about their sermons. They discuss delivery, topics, and other pertinent information.

I know of collectives for aspiring writers. People who want to write novels, science fiction, and other genres. Their intent is not to compete but to “spur one another one” to good works.

In many ways, I see churches as collectives. No one person can or should do everything needed in a church setting. God intends for us to work together, each one doing what God has empowered them to do.

In one of my times in the Scriptures, I was reminded of this by reading from Hebrews 10. Two verses really stand out to me, verses 24 & 25. Listen to them:

Hebrews 10:24-25 “And let us consider how we may spur [prod] one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

We need each other.

I’ve used the illustration of the water buffalo that decides to leave the herd.

Maybe they got offended by another water buffalo. Maybe they got left out of the “water buffalo games.” Who knows why, but for whatever reason, they removed themselves from the herd.

If you’ve ever watched a documentary about life in the jungles of Africa, you know when this happens, they have set the dinner table for the local pride of lions, or hyaenas. Or whatever group of predators lurking in the bushes.

 Just as the water buffalo’s need the herd, you and I need each other, the church, or the collective. We just can’t make it alone.

If you go back into the book of Genesis, you will note that God created Adam first, but it soon became apparent that Adam was unable to fulfill the command to “multiply and fill the earth.”

God wasn’t caught off guard by this, He knew what He was doing. He knew Adam needed Eve and Eve needed Adam.

Neither of them could complete the task alone. It took both. Adam and Eve may have been the first collective in the history of the world. Together, they completed what God purposed for them. To multiply and fill the earth.

One of the great Pauline passages is found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, Paul talks about both “unity” and “diversity” within the body of Christ. (That’s the church, by the way.)

The church is one body. A collective. There aren’t different “bodies” there aren’t ethnic bodies, rich bodies, poor bodies, intellectual bodies, talented bodies, or bodies lacking talent, there is one body, with one Head.

Perhaps the most effective description of the church, functioning as a collective, is found in Acts 2.

Verse 44 says, “All the believers were together and had everything in common.”

No superstars. No one was trying to live outside the herd. They were together. They worked as a collective. Each one doing their part, so that all things needed came together in a way that honored God.

If you keep reading in this section of Scripture, it concludes with these words, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

I’m not advocating communal living but I am advocating community in our living. I’m advocating the concept of living as a “collective” and pooling our God given talents so that the purpose of God moves forward in a way that God receives honor and glory and as it happened in Acts 2, the Lord would add to “our number daily those who are being saved.”

We need each other. There is no getting around it. Writers need singers, singers need writers, and writers and singers need musicians to complete the task.

That’s our time for this time on Take Ten with Pastor Don. Thanks for joining us.