Small Town Theology

George Bush is a disaster that has already happened! I had to say that before I could get to my subject for today.
When some people discover that I am a retired Navy enlisted person they are surprised to learn that I am also a liberal (though I am beginning to prefer the term 'progressive') both politically and theologically (again though most people I know don't really understand the use of a word like "theologically"). When many, if not most, Americans think of a people who act out of a faith or belief they think of fundamentalist or evangelical Christians (and in the minds of most Americans those terms are synonamous). But I don't fit into those molds in either case.
Today I want to explore, while I am writing, a basic theological difference between my own understanding of Christianity and that of all fundamentalist and just about all "mainline" Christians, hereafter referred to as "Feel Good Christians", accept without question.
It is said and often repeated without question that the "family" is the basic foundation on which all societies, including Christianity, is built.
I think that is a misreading of the fundamental message of Jesus Christ.
Let me explain. I live in a small town of about 800 people. It's a good place to live, a good place to raise children, but it's far from being unique. Like so many other small towns, villages and neighborhoods it's often described by people who live here as like being a "family," or better said, "an extended family." I can almost, but not quite, go along with the image of being an extended family. I much prefer the term "community."
Family, and even extended family, conjures up an image of personal contact that may bring a warm fuzzy feeling but that not what Jesus was preaching. I see works of comfort, healing and respect not as quest for good feelings but as a way to fulfillment, of living in the way we are created to be.
I have come to understand that Fundamentalist's and Feel Good Christian's focus on the family (pun intended) are for two very different reasons. For Fundy's the reason is to exert more power and control over individual's, i.e. specific roles for men and women, leaders and followers, etc.. For Feel Gooder's it's more privatized, less public responsibility and involvment,i.e. just be nice and hope everything falls in line.
I am convinced Jesus was speaking and acting against both of those mind sets. He was, is, saying that God is not a Santa Claus whose rewards are earned by observing all the laws or conversly by just being nice. God's desire, he says, is that all people be cared for and respected regardless of what family, nation, tribe, they come from or even what they believe.
For me family has become an abstract, almost meaningless term when it comes to the true meaning of life as a Christian. People can live without a family but they cannot survive without community. I don't have to love someone to care for them. I don't have to agree with someone to provide for them, or want them to provide for me when I am in need.
That is why I like living in this small town. We do things for one another even when we may not like one another because that is what we have to do in order to survive. That is what Jesus was talking about.
The good news is that because we know in our hearts that we need one another in order to continue to live here, we find that we will do stuff we might otherwise not do if we could avoid it. We know we can't avoid one another, and that is a choice we make so we can live here. It's called community -- not family. And a good thing about it is that, for the most part, we find we really do like each other.
And finally, when we can take that lesson to heart, we will discover that our community is not limited to one small geographic location, it is across all boundaries ever thought up by human beings.
Let me close with an idea that came to me this morning, World Communion Sunday, in church. In the sermon about the meaning of communion, our pastor said "Communion is not just an ideal." I agree completely, but it also made me think of another Christian concept, "Peace is not just another ideal." And neither is community!
It is what it is!

Peace be with you my friend!