The Morality of Community
To get into this discussion it's important to have everyone on the same page about the meaning and the understanding of “Morality” and “Community”
Definitions of “Morality” :
- Beliefs of what is right behaviour and wrong behaviour - Merriam Webster
- A particular system of values and principles of conduct - Oxford Dictionary
- Describes a code of conduct put forward by society or a group or accepted by an individual for his/her own behaviour -Wikipedia
- Normally refers to a code of conduct that given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons.
Definitions of “Community”:
- Group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common
- A particular area or place considered together with its inhabitants eg “a rural community”
- A district considered collectively – especially the context of social values and responsibility
- A feeling of fellowship with others as a result of sharing of common attitudes, interests or goals
Concentric Circles -
What communities can you identify yourself with?
- Turn into groups of 3 or 4 people
- Share your name,
- Write your own name in the middle circle
- Name 2 or 3 communities that you are part of
- Put the names of those communities into the each of those rings
Eg family, church , neighbourhood, book club, running club, etc
Peter Block who is a Leadership and Organizational Development consultant and author says: ‘Most of our communities are fragmented and at odds within themselves’.
He says - The essential challenge is to transform the isolation and self-interest within our communities into connectedness and caring for the whole”.
How do we do this? “By shifting our attention from the problems of community to the possibility of community.”
What does Jesus teach us about the morality of community?
As Jesus comes of age at 30 we start seeing him through the gospel stories showing up in the most unlikely places for a King – Down by the sea of Galilee he talks to fisherman. Good solid working class folk doing a hard days work so that they and their families can eat. He went to the sick and those suffering with pain, physical and mental disease. – He specifically went to the “down and out”. In Matthew 5 Jesus started teaching His Disciples through the Beatitudes, giving us a system of values with which to view people through His eyes. His teaching provides a clear code of ethics which guides us with a way of being in the world
In Matthew 5 v 17 – “do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them”. He gathers with the people – where they are. He talks in a manner that can be understood by all people, not just the elite and educated. He invites the “least” to the centre of the conversation – “let the children come unto me”. He does not make a mockery of the disciples who are terrified in the storm on their fishing boat, he takes a leadership role and calms them as he calms the storm. He appreciates – what people did for him and for others – Mary and Martha. No person goes unnoticed - The leper he passes who reaches out his hand and asks for healing;T he hemorrhaging woman who touches his robe; The children, whom the disciples are trying shoo away – he welcomes. He is paying attention to what is going on around him and within him. He gives attention to the least in society and offers them respect and dignity by sharing a moment of interaction which is often life-changing for that individual.
Can you identify one person or group of people in each of your communities, who you could reach out to? Connect to? Build relationship with? Who can I offer respect to and dignity to that I have previously ignored or walked on by? Who can I show hospitality to who I would not normally reach out to? Who are we, as the parish of St Paul’s in Parkhurst, being called by God to build community with?
Stephanie Dawson-Cosser
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