Sunday, October 08, 2006

Crazy Community Part II

(Sorry for the delay. Life and a death in my immediate family has slowed down my writing a bit!)


Our crazy ministry/church was really getting going. Most of us had decided that we were going to live communally and began making preparations for that eventuality. Never mind, of course, that none of us had any money. Never mind, of course, that some of us were still in high school or college. Never mind, of course, that those of us who were not in school were severely underemployed. We were, by golly, going to buy property large enough to keep all of us in some level of comfort, and do. . .something.

So we did what any self respecting group of potential communards would do, and called JPUSA, the holy grail of Jesus Freakism. JPUSA pastor Glen Kaiser (also the lead singer for REZ, one of the most radical "Christian Rock" bands of that period) took mercy on us and came out to talk to our motley crew about living in community. I felt very important as I composed at list of serious questions to ask, as I was quite sure that our band of ruffians would only grovel at the Great One's feet, ignoring the whole purpose of our meeting.

(Actually, while our musician-boys did a fair amount of groveling, they also had some good questions to ask as well. Glenn was kind and patient with us, and I bless his good soul for driving all the way from Uptown Chicago to Des Plaines. His insights were memorable, and maybe if we had been more mature, we would have eventually reached our goal of intentional community.)

The ministry at this point featured three affiliated bands and regular Bible studies. Many of us continued to attend local churches, but were quite convinced of our spiritual superiority. One reason for this is that Linda and Ernie had absorbed the teachings of some folks in Wisconsin, which put us uncomfortably in the "hetrodox" camp. Our doctrinal distinctives included nontrinitarianism and a belief in "Jesus Name" baptism via immersion. Some people might have lumped us in with with Oneness Pentecostals, but that wasn't quite accurate either. For one thing, while we denied the trinity, we never fully articulated how our position differed from trinitarianism, other than that Jesus was God in flesh and that God's proper name was "Jesus". The other differences were that we didn't believe that Jesus-name baptism was entirely necessary for salvation and we didn't believe that you had to speak in tongues as evidence of salvation. We also didn't hold to the "holiness" codes of dress and hair length espoused by most "oneness" people. But our peculiar baptism theology was enough to give us both a sense of self-rightiousness and persecution.

Of such sentiments are fringe movements made.

Meanwhile my parents were becoming distressed. In fact, most everyone who still lived at home had distressed parents. Convinced that Linda and Ernie (in reality the most guileless human beings I have ever met) were out to brainwash us into a weird cult, my mother wrung her hands and peppered me with questions. My father was threatening to withhold tuition money lest I throw away a college education on "growing vegetables in the middle of O'Hare field" (I think he was confusing us with the Hare Krishnas.). But I was eighteen years old and was determined to exercise my first amendment rights. Others stood up to their parents manfully as well, and our general disrespect must have really furthered the cause of the gospel. (sarcasm mode on)

The merriment continued as one of our members actually moved in with Linda and Ernie in order to get the ball rolling on the communal living. "Bob" was one of the most zealous human beings that I have ever known, and was truly on fire for God. He had his own contracting business, and the sadly underemployed Ernie went to work for him. (Other members considered this to be our first "ministry business", though only two of us were actually employed by this venture.) Unfortunately, Linda and Ernie's landlord took a dim view of these proceedings, and evicted Linda, Ernie, Bob and the kids. This was ok, however, because a new chapter was about to open in our fledgling community.

To be continued. . .

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