The comment from Barry in Kirk today was that the utopian church — described here — “lasted 57 verses”. It was broken: by persecution, by hypocrisy and corruption within the early church, and by the apostles being caught up in administration of welfare.

Acts 2:42-47

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

⁴³Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

via Daily Lectionary Readings — Devotions and Readings — Mission and Ministry — GAMC.

This first flowering of the Church under the leadership of Peter and the apostles occurred at a time when there was a temple in Jerusalem and an infrastructure around the temple that the first believers — who were mainly Jewish — had rights to.

They could meet and worship freely in the court of the Gentiles. They were able to share resources (At that time, holding onto the resources was foolish. Jesus had clearly described the destruction of Jerusalem (See Matthew 24). They assumed that the end would come soon.

But that period did not last. There was a time of persecution — leading to Paul being converted when he was an officer in the persecution of (what was considered) a Jewish cult and the rapid, explosive development of churches among the Greek and Roman populace of the empire. The structures of the synagogue had to be modified. The development of eldership and deacons (administrators) was encouraged by Paul and Peter. The churhc developed some flexibility.

Some argue that we should be like the primitive church of old. They plead for the power, the ability to devote themselves full time to the word and prayer, and the communal living of that period.  This is an error. The way the church is organized is in reaction to the society and environment they are living in. One of the problems with Churches is remaining frozen in the models that worked 200, 500 or 1000 years ago: we need to look at our forebears and learn from them how they witnessed to the errors of their generation. However, we can also learn from older generations about our errors. No modern society can honestly say that they obey the law. Our generation would stand condemned by the writers of the Didache (this predates the Catholic formulation of the “seven deadly sins”

The Second Commandment: Grave Sin Forbidden. And the second commandment of the Teaching; You shall not commit murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit pederasty, you shall not commit fornication, you shall not steal, you shall not practice magic, you shall not practice witchcraft, you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born. You shall not covet the things of your neighbor, you shall not swear, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not speak evil, you shall bear no grudge. You shall not be double-minded nor double-tongued, for to be double-tongued is a snare of death. Your speech shall not be false, nor empty, but fulfilled by deed. You shall not be covetous, nor rapacious, nor a hypocrite, nor evil disposed, nor haughty. You shall not take evil counsel against your neighbor. You shall not hate any man; but some you shall reprove, and concerning some you shall pray, and some you shall love more than your own life.

There have always been those who will lead Christians astray, in every period of the church, in every time. The Didache which is fairly early, notes that there were false prophets (the tests included asking for money, and staying for more than two days in the region) and for the need to each congregation or region to appoint bishops. Again, from the Didache…

Against False Teachers, and Food Offered to Idols. See that no one causes you to err from this way of the Teaching, since apart from God it teaches you. For if you are able to bear the entire yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you are not able to do this, do what you are able. And concerning food, bear what you are able; but against that which is sacrificed to idols be exceedingly careful; for it is the service of dead gods.

Within the church, because we are fallen and struggle with the very sins that are mentioned in the second chapter of the Didache and the third. “Be not prone to anger, for anger leads to murder. Be neither jealous, nor quarrelsome, nor of hot temper, for out of all these murders are engendered. My child, be not a lustful one. for lust leads to fornication. Be neither a filthy talker, nor of lofty eye, for out of all these adulteries are engendered  “, We need to balance the ability to work with each other in our fallenness. This requires vulnerability & humility (which was also in today’s sermon), for none of us is perfect. The teaching of the Didache — like the teaching of the gospel, and indeed the Law itself — challenges us all.

It is very frightening, as a church, to be completely in the hands of God and completely at one. You lose privilege. You lose power.

As a result, we can retreat to tradition, or to an idealized version of that tradition. Barry said in church that the ‘utopian church lasted 57 verses”. He is using the term utopia to mean ideal. However, we should not forget that the word “Utopia” was coined by Thomas More — to mean no place. There has never been a perfect church. So how do we now act? This pew warming sheep has some comments to his shepherd.

1. The church is people. People need the truth. So we must have preached to us the Gospel, whether we want it this week or if it is the last thing we want to hear.
2. There is nothing new within the church. Although our knowledge is incomplete, we have been given sufficient knowledge to access the means of grace. This measn that (a) we should hold onto those methods of expressing faith that have been tested to be true over many generations. (b) we should resist and reject any teaching that is esoteric.
3. Over the centuries, the church has created some treasures. We must not worship these treasures — but the treasures can bear silent witness to our faith. We have to balance preservation of these buildings, art, music and documents against the need to serve the poor, needly, broken and powerless. In the end, bread is not enough. We need to look to the hills — the mountains — and express this within the context of our culture.

The last point is practical in my congregation — one of our our churches — shown on this post and made of crumbling sandstone — is a historic place, and the other (draughty, large, and neglected) is a local landmark. The radical in me would bulldoze both buildings and worship in a shed.  The better part of me says we need to keep the buildings and reconfigure them to work for the next generation.

UPDATE.

Gil corrected me. Thomas More wrote Utopia. I should have looked it up first.