David W. Swanson

Pastor and Author

the community-ist

We’ve had a great time in Mason City the past few days. I even went fishing with my uncle and caught three (small) bass. It’s been over 15 years since I’ve been fishing, so even three little fish was pretty amazing to me. I think we may go out again today before Maggie and I drive home this afternoon.

Yesterday at church (First Covenant Church of Mason City) the sermon was given by the part-time music pastor. Dave is just a year out of college, but he’s doing a great job leading worship. As we learned yesterday he’s also a great communicator. The title of his message was, Is God a Communist? You’ve got to be impressed with anyone gutsy enough to have that as a sermon title! Dave took Acts 2 as his text and talked about how the early church was completely dependent on God working through the community to meet each other’s needs. Here’s the quote of the day from his sermon,

Is God a communist? No. But God is a community-ist.

I’m pretty sure “community-ist” isn’t a word, but maybe it should be. As Dave pointed out yesterday, so many of us live as if an individualistic and autonmous life is our goal. The Scriptures point to a very different ideal however, beginning with God existing forever in community as the Trinity. As those created in God’s image, we’ve been made for the hard, messy, confusing, and ultimately redemptive community that we get a taste of in Acts 2. We’ve been made to be community-ists.

Have a great Memorial Day.

David Swanson

4 responses to “the community-ist”

  1. Curt Avatar
    Curt

    David,
    I like it! Is there a mechanism for those interested to receive an e-mail when there is a new post from the staff at PCC?
    Curt

    Reply
  2. David Avatar
    David

    Indeed- check out the “email subscription” on the sidebar. Thanks Curt.

    Reply
  3. Alby Avatar
    Alby

    I like it. My first impression is that it has potential to connect us during the week and gives us a tool to interact about the teachings and happenings at PCC (The View). A long time ago Lorri I attended a church that had daily devotional books that were related to the sermon series and it was very beneficial to know others were working through the same stuff as you. It also came up in conversations when you saw people from church and made more of a daily impact because you were using the teachings and reminded of them daily. Lastly, when I have a few minutes late at night, this is a great thing to take a look at that actually matters.

    Reply
  4. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    This is the first blog I ever visited. Cool. I especially liked the video. This can be a great resource for stuff I wouldn’t normally get from reading our weekly bulletin, attending weekly services or receiving “Random Thoughts”. Thanks!

    Reply

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