lenten blog | February 15, 2024

Four Fellowships and Four S's

Throughout the year, the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ reproduces the Daily Lectionary for use by churches.  These are the suggested readings for February 15th:  Psalm 25:1-10; Daniel 9:1-14; and 1 John 1:3-10.  I would encourage you to read these short selections as part of your Lenten practice.

In today’s 1 John passage, the word fellowship is used four times.  Community is a central theme in the Johannine writings.  When I was in seminary, I attended extra classes in biblical studies at a local college.  My professor was Fr. Robert Barone and he studied under Fr. Raymond E. Brown.  Brown was one of the best biblical scholars of his day.  In 1979, he authored The Community of the Beloved Disciple. 

Brown points out that the words church and apostle are never used in John’s Gospel or Epistles 1 and 2, and when church is used in 3 John it is in a negative context.  John’s community is not hierarchically structured.  It is far more charismatic, governed by the promptings of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, which means the Advocate.  John’s community was administered by consensus guided by the Spirit.  Leadership was not imposed.  Leadership was gained by convincing others and thus teaching took on a prominent role.

This is reflected in today’s passage, “[W]e declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us.”  Religious insight is not a stolen treasure to be hidden away and enjoyed as some sort of forbidden pleasure.  It is to be shared with the community so that the whole of the community benefits.  This is the basis of Johannine fellowship.  There is a conscious effort made to share spiritual gifts with each other so that the entire community is elevated.  It is not one above the other; it is each one lifting the other above.

Sometimes we can think of Lent in individual terms:  I will give up x for 40 days; I will do y for 40 days.  We can imagine Lent as my journey.  The Johannine writings take us in a different direction, one that we walk together:  “We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.  This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you …”  There is spiritual worth in fellowship that offers individual rewards – “so that our joy may be complete.”

During Lent, we hopefully practice individual acts of piety.  These may be expressed through sacrifice, through service, through spirituality, but they are all meant to heighten our connection with Christ, with Christ who loved us enough to die on the cross.  These three “s’s” are joined by a fourth, that of sharing.  And this comes across in 1 John’s four repetitions of the word fellowship.  If anything, Jesus on the cross proclaims the sacredness of what we do for and with others.  May Lent help us to realize the utility and the blessings of fellowship.
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If you’d like, here is the link to the Southern New England Conference’s daily reading schedule:  www.sneucc.org/lectionary.