15. Community: Living with Freaks

Chapter 15 starts with a picture of a Christian bookstore that treated faith as something done alone. It is an easy habit to fall into, and Miller names a lie underneath it, the one he finds hardest to resist: that life is a story about him. If life is my story, then other people are supporting characters, and community becomes a convenience instead of a calling. The chapter reflects on living with others, both what it gives and what it costs. It is Miller's experience and opinion, so we set it beside Scripture.

Acts 2 gives a picture of the opposite. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Four habits, held together: learning, fellowship, shared meals, prayer. Notice the word “devoted.” They did not drop in when convenient. They gave themselves to it.

There were spectacular things happening, too. Verse 43 says “awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.” We should not skip that. But the life of the community was not built on the signs. It was built on daily ordinary devotion and sharing, running alongside them. “All who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Their wonder had a dinner table in it, and their worship had a budget.

Look at the rhythm of the final verses: “day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people.” Day by day. In homes. Gladness and generosity at the same table. This is not a community of people who admired each other from a distance. They saw each other's needs and responded.

Now place that next to the lie Miller describes. If life is about me, every need in the group is an interruption. If life is about God and his people, a need is an invitation. The group's gladness in Acts 2 grows out of that change in the story. People were no longer the heroes of their own plots. They were members of a body, and the Lord was the one adding to their number.

The chapter also admits that living with other people is difficult. Real communities contain irritating, wounded, odd people, and that includes us. Acts 2 does not remove that. It simply shows a group staying together through it.

A word of care: community is good, but it never requires you to stay near someone who is abusing or harming you. If that is your situation, tell a pastor, counselor, or trusted friend.

This week, practice one concrete act of showing up. A small, ordinary, faithful act is the kind of thing this passage is built on.