When my catalytic converters were stolen last week, it sparked an avalanche of inconveniences and disrupted plans. Oh how I recoiled at the out-of-control feeling that enveloped the week.
Our ministry leader called to check on us a couple of times. When Philip thanked him, his response was, "Oh no, your problems ARE my problems." And he meant that. He wasn't calling to check on the Matheny family's problems. He was calling to check on OUR problems as brother and sister, as community. Even as the connections and sacrifices of nearby friends covered our losses, I didn't want to need help. I wanted to have it all together. The call reminded me there is another way.
"Individualist societies tend to think of community as being the sum of the individuals....In collectivist societies, however, the individual is the sum of the community. The community identity, characteristics, values, and talents form the identity of those who all belong to that community. Collectives are defined by the things they share with others, things shared such as blood, shared interests, shared history, shared land, and shared loyalty." (Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes)
It is a seemingly small shift from letting friends assist in MY problem to seeing the situation as OUR problem. In fact, on the outside it could look the very same. In our individualist society, though, a little shift like this could be radical, the way the family of God looked in the New Testament.
"We read kinship language so often in the New Testament that we skim over it rather than read it for how scandalous it really was." (Misreading Scripture with Individualist Eyes)
It was scandalous to treat people outside your bloodline as "family." In his letters, Paul emphasized new boundaries into a culture that already had defined boundaries. He created community among people who had a history of hostility. To redefine boundaries is a big deal in collectivist cultures because identity is strongly connected to who is "in" and who is "out." When our ministry leader's boundaries around my problem were in a different place, he reminded me just how radical the Church is today, as it has been for two thousand years.
