2nd Easter 2009 - Parish as Community
April 2009
Acts 2;42. ‘They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.’
From the time of the Resurrection the lives of the followers of Jesus of Nazareth (Later known as Christians) revolved around four things;
- The Apostolic teaching.
- The communal life ( meeting together, praying and worshiping together, sharing with and helping one another, in short being a joyful community who enjoyed each others company).
- The breaking of the bread (what we call the Mass today).
- The prayers ( the normal Jewish prayers which were held daily in the temple or synagogue. This continued until the followers of Jesus were expelled from the synagogues. Today this involves some sort of family or personal prayer.)
Today, our Parish lives, to be authentically Christian, must revolve around these four things.
For some of us, this communal life or fellowship aspect of Christianity, is what we most easily ignore or find most difficult. If it weren’t for my job as a priest I would definitely find myself numbered among the latter group. There are many and varied reasons for this.
People like me need to make a special effort to try and get involved in some way in parish life - in parish community activities.
We are quite happy to come to parish ceremonies and services but avoid involvement in their preparation and disappear immediately they are ended.
Maybe we are basically shy, have no facility for casual conversation, or are simply hard of hearing and haven’t a clue what people are saying. But the very fact of our presence is important for the Parish family just as my presence at my family’s events such as funerals, weddings, important jubilees, etc. is important, even if I do find them a drag.
If I were down there in the pews listening to this homily I would be thinking to myself, ‘I hope ‘so and so’ is listening carefully to what the priest is saying because this describes him/her exactly.’
Am I not always the last to see my own idiosyncrasies!!!