Our community has been going through the Story of God in our Grace Groups. The Story of God was developed by missions organizations to help missionaries convey the Scripture to illiterate cultures. Gathering a group together, they tell the stories of the Bible and the community discusses what the story means for them. It is a dynamic way to communicate the Scripture to people who are not used to literary thinking.
What they were surprised to discover is how well that this form of communicating the Bible is working in post-literate America. Americans are reading less and Biblical illiteracy is the highest that it has ever been in America. We are finding that the Story is an important tool in helping people find their story in the Story of God. (For more info, go to http://www.somacommunities.org/learners/story-of-god)
But this has also unearthed another issue: because the Story is experienced as a community, some people are caught off guard with working things out as a group. We are so used to a “God and me” mentality that allowing others into the process can be unsettling.
It is interesting to note that the Bible was predominately written to communities. Only a handful of the books in the Bible were addressed to individuals.
So the point is that the Scripture paints much more of a “we” identity than a “me” identity. God so loved the “world” that He gave His Son. It’s more of a community identity than an individual one. That doesn’t hinder the role of individual expression, but it basically says that the reality check of our spirituality is more in community than by ourselves. 1 John 4:20 goes as far as to state that if we say we love God but hate our brother we’re a liar and the truth is not in us!
This cuts against our “me and God” mentalities and challenges us to go to a “we and God” reality. Though it seems like heresy to our radically individualistic culture, this becomes the very means of grace that the Holy Spirit uses to cause us to grow into Christ Himself. (Ephesians 4:11-16)
God’s story takes our lives and places us into families. We just need to get past the uncomfortableness of our self made walls to step into a God ordained community. May God guide all of us in our journey toward Him.
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