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Every community, be it two friends, a faith group, a family, nations, … lives and breathes a particular “atmosphere.” This “atmosphere” is the tenor of the “spirit” engendered by the thoughts and actions of the community over time. Some community “atmosphere” is toxic, and others, while not necessarily toxic, are, nevertheless, not optimum for well-being and intimacy.
Scripture provides the optimum and essential “atmosphere” for the thriving and health of community, the atmosphere required for community to enjoy communion. I call this the “agape atmosphere”: the God-Love atmosphere. This community environment, like an eco-system, provides a safe space for honesty, healing, and growth.
14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18And a harvest of righteousness (or rightness, justice) is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3, ESV; italics added)
14Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom. 15It's the furthest thing from wisdom─it's animal cunning, devilish conniving. 16Whenever you're trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats.
17Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. 18You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor. (James 3, The Message)
Dallas Willard, in The Divine Conspiracy, speaks of the obviousness of human character in community. He writes, “The heart is not a mystery at the level of ordinary human interactions. We discern one another quite well.”
James, like much of the New Testament, speaks to the obviousness of human character. James addresses a challenge in faith community, with an emphasis on the clarity of the relation between heart and action. James is clear that there is often a contradiction between “Christian” confession and behavior in community. He is clear that in religious community, self-interested ambition and jealousy, rather than the spirit of being a servant, is a divisive and pernicious influence.
From where does such self-interest arise from? James is clear: the heart (v. 14). While in contemporary culture the heart is associated almost, if not fully, with feeling, in the Scripture tradition the heart is the center of will. Selfish ambition and jealousy, along with other emotional and volitional qualities associated with the will, arise from a willful will. Disorder, with competition, contempt, disrespect, slander, backbiting, … arise from a will directed to a willful projection of a person’s or faction’s agenda on an entire community. Likewise, often this “willful atmosphere,” so destructive of community─ which operates well only on the basis of an “agape atmosphere”─ arises from the clash of different groups operating from the same cunning, conniving strategies. Sadly, this is often engaged in within faith community by using the name of God or Scripture for justification, whereby, the Sacred, which is present to unify, is wielded by human ambition to “win” at all cost, even at the cost of the communion of community.
James says such willful behavior, even in the name of God, Christ, Love, or whatever, arises from a heart tainted with ambition and jealousy. If, then, we are to believe this word from James, we must assume that underneath much of the politics of “church” rests an oft subtle willfulness which clothes human ambition and jealousy in the “right” cause and the “right” belief.
James presents us a clear description of the person who lives in communion with the Sacred. In contrast to the contentiousness of the willful person, the truly wise person is: pure, … peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere (v. 17, ESV).
The wise person knows that the ends do not justify the means when it comes to guarding and nurturing the communion of community. The wise person knows that personal or faction agenda cannot be allowed to lead one to be destructive to the unifying “agape atmosphere” in which alone true communion exists and thrives. The wise person knows that continuing to return persons to the over-all, all-encompassing “agenda” of Love is necessary to the unity of the fellowship.
Indeed, communion cannot exist in conformity, and willfulness generally seeks conformity, while wisdom seeks communion. Communion thrives in profound respect and patience with those unlike us. Conformity will always sacrifice community at the altar of compliance. And, in compliance, dishonesty and hypocrisy thrive, as persons seek to maintain a status quo to protect themselves from the guilt and reprimand of the conformed group.
Therefore, to have true communion in community, to thrive in an “agape atmosphere,” we live from the peaceable heart, not from the outer expectations of those around us. This does not mean that one becomes a rebel, an antinomian. Instead, even when belief and behavior remains the same, the source of the living of it arises from the heart, not the head. And, then, peace and justice will be the consequence of the wisdom from above, arising from the heart united to the Source. Personal conviction, often a cover-up for personal willfulness, will not take priority over communal well-being.
But, where do we begin with this being transformed to believe and act in agreement with the wisdom arising from the Sacred? Again, Willard: “It is the inner life of the soul that we must aim to transform, and then behavior will naturally and easily follow. But not the reverse.” I am not as convinced as Willard seems to be that the behavior will always “easily follow.” I am convinced that it will always “naturally … follow.”
Make no mistake about it, contentiousness and divisive behavior is not according to the divine wisdom. Persons who embody peace, arising from a communion with the Peaceable and Unifying Spirit, are persons who are truly wise and help transform the community to “breathe in” and “breathe out,” in inspiration and aspiration, intent and act, the “atmosphere of agape.” These persons sow peace, make peace, and nurture a harvest of justice.
I left my native Christian denomination in the mid-1990s. One reason was the contentiousness of those who were labeled “fundamentalists” and “moderates.” I was disappointed to see persons on all sides sacrifice the peaceableness of true wisdom to party politics. I saw the Christian witness of this major denomination smeared before those outside the Church, smeared by those who claimed to be contending for the truth.
The Master Teacher, Jesus Christ, speaks in Matthew’s Gospel: Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword (26.52, ESV). A great harvest of justice and peace, lasting peace, comes forth by the strength of those who gently can nurture an “agape atmosphere,” both by how they carry themselves and how they speak.
Spiritual Exercise
1. Reflect on the qualities of a peaceable person, given in James 3. Compare them with those in I Corinthians 13.4-7.
2. Describe a “peaceable person.” Describe a “peaceable community.”
3. What can you do to be help nurture an “agape atmosphere” in your relationships with others?
Prayer
Prince of Peace, gentle my heart in Your Love. Amen.
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
Brian's book of mystical love poetry, An Ache for Union, can be ordered through major bookdealers.
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