This is Part 2 of our ongoing series, “If you, then y’all.”
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
Philippians 2:1-2
“From one to One”
I have experienced some powerful moments alone with God.
I recall my first moment of joyfully embracing God’s silence as I sat by myself in a stained-glass sanctuary in 2007. Scripture is filled with spiritually significant moments amidst solitude.
The Apostle Paul is not against being “one” with God. He does, however, see tremendous benefit in going from one to One.
I have experienced this in the Community Bible Study I facilitate. I say “facilitate” rather than lead because I believe the Spirit is actually leading, and I am meant to see our group as a collaborative unit rather than individuals I’m teaching. Some of the most profound moments come from the Spirit working through us as One.
We once explored 1 John 2, focusing on verses 7-8 where there seems to be a contradiction: “I am not writing you a new command… yet I am writing you a new command.”
Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
We discussed how the entire book is about love, and this seems to indicate that “love” may be deeper than we realize. We were set to have an enlightening study, were it not for R stepping through the door.
R struggles with her mental health and addiction, and it significantly impacts how she interacts with others. In addition to frequent interruptions, she repeatedly said cruel things about me, making it immensely difficult to have a “productive” study. We would have been justified in kicking her out; however, there seemed to be a shared, unspoken understanding among the group that God wanted her to remain. It was a difficult hour; by the end we realized God wanted to make the passage real.
Here we were doing a study on love and God says, “I’m going to teach you by having y’all live it out.” Knowing God wanted R to remain, we endeavored to love her well beyond our capacity. Not only did we find more patience than we expected, we sensed the disruptions were part of God’s lesson, not an impediment. After R left, we openly processed together how we had just experienced something greater than a mere productive Bible study. God led us as One to live out love, and to do so through Him before we understood it!
Often Bible Studies are one person teaching singular individuals. This was different: we all functioned as one unit, with the Spirit as the lead. I am learning to discern the difference between a group of ones, and a group being One, as it is easy to mistake the two.
It begins by acknowledging that our spiritual engagement can bend individual or corporate, and regularly considering which way we are bending.
