I’ve recently developed a highly unusual interest in history. be frank with you I labored through all my college history courses and highly resented not only the cost, but the weight of those history textbooks. Maybe because I’m growing older or maybe because I just always love to learn I did a stint of reading about the Great Depression and World War II. Wow, was that encouraging! But it is perfectly fascinating.
I knew a woman named Ella several years back. Ella was one of the liveliest and quickest women I have ever known for her age. Up until about a year before her 93rd birthday, she was still driving herself around town. She had been a real source of joy to me and many others. One day we were at a meal together and I decided to ask her about her experience during the Great Depression. I asked her to tell me anything she would like. She told me an astonishing story.
They lived out in the countryside in the Midwest. Their neighbors were far and few between. Her parents were doing everything they could to keep their family—body and soul—together during difficult times. She said, frankly, that it was very difficult. But it would have been worse if they did not have relatives back East who would every now and then send them a barrel of food with salt, pork, and flour.
One day she said her family learned of their nearest neighbor’s dire situation. Her father had been by to see them at their homestead some distance away. What he found was heartbreaking. The parents and their children were nearly starved to death and they had to give up their hard-earned home. Ella’s father without blinking an eye did something that was beyond generous. He invited them to come and live with them, they would share their barrel of food and small home and no one would have to die. I sat there dumbfounded. I knew that things had been hard during the Depression. I had seen the famous pictures of gaunt people sitting—just sitting—on porches. But I had never heard a story first-hand quite like that. I was so impressed and moved with the sacrifice and sharing spirit of Ella and her family because they had out of how little they had.
Near that time, I was reading a book about the recovering of Europe’s artwork from the grasp of the Nazi regime. It seems rather trite to think of artwork in the face of the ghastly human sacrifices and losses that were made during World War II. But I am an artist and have seen many of the paintings and drawings which Hitler and his army stole from Jews and many other people. His obsession in world domination is mind numbing and evil. This book, The Monuments Men[1], describes the journey a small group of soldiers made in saving and recovering the great works of art in that area. One story stuck out to me.
One of the Allied soldiers, named Captain Walter Hancock, would often find himself in the homes of war-torn survivors, sharing simple meals with them. On one occasion in Le Gleize, France he met up with a family he had shared table with before. Here is his account (pgs. 218-219).
After the Madonna [artwork] was safe in the cellar, a young
man invited Hancock and his driver to dinner. Accepting gratefully, Hancock was
surprised to find himself once again sharing the hospitality of Monsieur
Geneen, the farmer-innkeeper whose daughter had entertained and fed him on his
first visit to town. Hancock wanted only his K-rations and some hot water to
dissolve his coffee powder, but again the family insisted on a full meal. This
despite the fact that the rear half of the house was gone, leaving the living
area open to the cold. Through one gap, he could see a large pile of grenades, Panzerfauste
[handheld antitank rockets], and other live ammunition the family had cleared
from the grounds; through the other, nothing but darkness. Everything seemed
wrong, unreal. And yet here were the same people, looking older and more tired,
but alive and well and spreading before him nothing less than a feast. In all
that destruction, freshly cooked meat and vegetables were the most wondrous and
unexpected sights of all.
They talked about the failure of the German advance; the ingenuity of the American soldiers; their possible futures. Hancock ate heartily. He looked from face to face, from the gaps in the wall to the pile of explosives to the two small rooms, and finally to the wonderful plate of food before him. A realization hit him.
"This isn't the house I visited before," he said.'
Monsieur Geneen put down his fork and folded his hands. "In the middle of the night," he said, "I awoke and from my bed I saw the sky through a shell hole in the wall. And when I began to realize where I was and why I was there I thought to myself, 'Isn't this a hard thing to come to me at my age after a life of unbroken labor! Not even to have four solid walls around me and my family!' Then I remembered that this was not even my house; that my friend who had owned it was dead; that of the house that I myself had built not a wall remained. And I was very sad. And then suddenly the truth came to me. We had come through the battle. During all that time we had enough to eat. We were all well and we could work." Geneen nodded toward his family, then at the two American soldiers seated across the table. "We," he said, "were the lucky ones!"4
I’m struck by these two stories for their poignancy and their sacrificial nature. So, I’m a bit confronted by our present situation in the US that is being characterized as so terrible. Don’t get me wrong things are bad and chaotic and unsettling. But I think that we have a good challenge on our hands today.
So, let’s ask some questions. If Ella’s family and Mr. Geneen could share the joy and comfort in such terrible circumstances, what are we doing to share the same thing in our communities? Where do we find the way to share joy with others and find true community? What is our motivation for doing so?
Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite writers talks about “hospitable space”. He defines this as the way in which we open our lives up to the possibility that sharing our journey with each other requires letting go of some things so that we can share the sweet life with others. This is what Christian community—the sweet life on a broader scale—is really all about.
One of my other favorite writers is Eugene Peterson. Here is what wrote about this matter:
When we realize how integral acts of hospitality are in evangelism, maybe we will be more deliberate and intentional about it. A life of hospitality keeps us in intimate touch with our families and the traditions in which we are reared, personally available to friends and guests, morally related to the hungry and the homeless, and, perhaps most important of all, participants in the context and conditions in which Jesus lived his life, using the language he used for the salvation of the world. (p. 216)
If community could be imposed it would at least be manageable. “Coercion can provide uniformity and perfect order, but the result is no community; it is an ugly parody of community; it is Naziism. Community can flourish only in freedom. So, the love that defines our common lives even though commanded, has to be unforced, personal, freely given by members of the community; ours must be lifetimes of accumulates of love — likely flawed, imperfect, juvenile, sputtery, but still love. Despite ourselves, loyal love. (p. 326)[2]
What is unity—I mean real community? Is it just solidarity against oppressors, or marching in a street for a cause, or having an ecumenical religious service? I think that community runs far deeper than any of these things. Perhaps it's "one nation under God", or a group of people committed to holding a city together through its diversity. Still, I'm not quite sure that any of those things are real community. What is the core or source of community?
Webster's Dictionary defines unity is several ways: "1) the quality or state of not being multiple—oneness, 2) a condition of harmony—accord, 3) the resulting singleness of effect or symmetry and consistency of style and character."3 What I see in these definitions is a kind of falling away of some individual goals and objectives for a greater objective or outcome. That greater objective or outcome, it seems to me, comes from Something other than our selves. There's Something outside of us which calls to a greater good, connection and balance.
Some humanistic philosophers tell us that if we all just find ourselves inside, then we will be truly unified. But I don't believe that's the whole truth. Inside of each of us also dwell selfishness, unforgiveness and hatred. There's got to be Something outside of us that causes those things to fall away and brings us to true unity that is good now, but only a taste of what it will be in heaven.
The answer rests in the Scripture we read today. Maybe, just maybe, God has something to do with this illusive thing called unity. Maybe, just maybe, it was His idea in the first place.
Let's make sure we understand the context of the passages we are about to read. If you remember from the first part of Acts 2 all the disciples, both men and women, who had been gathered for prayer after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, had been filled with and touched by the Fire of the Holy Spirit. In turn, people from many, many nations were able to understand them. There was an astounding sense of unity that day. Three thousand people responded to the work of God in their hearts and they saw, for the first time perhaps, their great need of a Savior—the very one they had stood by and watched die.
After Peter's sermon and the testimony of those who had been filled with the Holy Spirit, thousands had come to know that Jesus was alive and able to save them. Once they accepted this, the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit began among them. And that's when true community began to take root.
Read carefully how that Holy Spirit powerfully unified them.
Acts 2: 42-47. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Jump quickly over to Acts 4:32-36 and we'll see more demonstrations of real unity.
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
This is a remarkable description of a bountiful community of love overflowing. They were not bent on the destruction of anyone else. There was no opposing team. They were bent on the construction of everyone else, even to their own sacrifice. This is the evidence of unity sourced by the power and love of the Holy Spirit.
Take some time to list the characteristics of Holy Spirit filled people found in these two passages. I found my response to the Holy Spirit's call for unity, and put these into forms of statements I would need to agree to if I want to be a person of Godly unity.
o I want to learn more from God and His Word.
o I seek out ways to have fellowship with other believers.
o I initiate sharing meals/going out with other believers,
o I pray every day.
o I am open to being awe-struck by God's acts among us.
o I expect and anticipate God's miracles among us.
o I am willing to give of what I have to help someone in need.
o I find ways to praise and thank God.
o I am aware of how my behavior affects other people.
o I seek to find ways to get along.
o I am willing to give my testimony to a non-Christian.
o If God asks me to make a material sacrifice for the church or others in need, I am willing to do that.
o I want the Holy Spirit to teach me what true unity means in my daily life and in the church.
Did you notice what is not on this list? There's no grumbling. There's no backbiting or gossip. There's no selfishness. There’s no war. There's no division or competition.
It is the work of God to bind us together with love in His unity creating an abundant community. He is always very clear about what He expects of us, and He is always fulfilling His promise to love us and to provide the Source of hope and unity—the Holy Spirit.
It truly is a wonder to me how groups of people, so different in taste, socio-economic status, education and ethnic background can be part of one body of Christ, the Church! Isn't that astounding to you?! We don't have to hate the same thing, dress alike, come from the same ethnic group, speak the same language, or be educated the same way in order to find true community!
If local churches are full of division, who is at the source of community there? If our homes are full of strife and bitter fighting, and we say that Christ is the head of our home, I've just got to wonder if He really is. If we call our work place a place of peace and it really is a place of hatred and backbiting . . . well, why not invite the Holy Spirit in and find that peace and unity can exist.
Church leaders have tried to hang their hats on Acts chapters 2 and 4. They have told us that churches should be like this all the time. Well, God, in His wisdom, permits our human frailties to stay with us until we reach heaven. But the Holy Spirit also gives us His power to continually work out His unity, to continue stay in and nurture community.
A struggle is never a sign of surrender. We will also read in the rest of Acts how the Holy Spirit dealt with and helped each one who remained in Christian community. We must humble ourselves; give of ourselves to the work of the Spirit, always being open to His leadership in our homes, our churches and our workplaces. In this way destruction, division, terror, and darkness can never sour community—and more than that, can spread it abroad. God's Spirit can dwell among and in us.
These incredible moments in Christian history—when thousands were added to the church—birthed a movement of sharing love, sacrificial giving, and common learning. It is truly a standard for the kind of communal life that is possible and alive wherever believers are open to the work of the Holy Spirit.
I would invite you to prayerfully seek the truth and permit the Holy Spirit to have His way with you.
Consider putting these two statements in a place where you can return to them in prayer when you are willing.
I will be genuine and ask God to help me in my weak areas and sustain me in my strong areas.
I will be a life-long learner and seeker of the Holy Spirit's power for true community.
Amen
© M.R.Hyde 2025
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