Community and Courage

This past year I had a wonderful opportunity to live in community with 36 other people. It was an experience that is definitely worth remembering. In community we lived and ate together, we learned and had fun together, while some of us laughed, others cried. At some points we sought God together and at other points I wondered if we were really dependant on God and each other at all.
So many people want to know that they can do things on their own, that they are strong enough to make it through without a shed tear. But this is not living in community.
Acts 2: 42-47, “ All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity- all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”
The early church shared everything they had and gave to those in need, anything in abundance would not be hoarded, but given, so everyone had their needs satisfied.
In our riches I sometimes think that we have become so independent and so far from what God wanted for his church. How are we to know the needs of the poor when we are so far from them? We may give money or spend time with them, but then we go back to our nice home with heat, a water, and food. This is not going to stop the hurt, this is like a band-aid solution, it feels better for a while, but is unsustainable. The only way to put an end to poverty is with love. A love for God and his children that will surpass any amount of greed that is within us. Not by living in poverty with each other, but living in community with each other. “Give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs” Proverbs 30:8.
I hear so many sermons or read books about how our “church” wants to become more like the early church in Acts. For some reason we have only been able to go ¼ or ½ way. To give more time and energy, but never really going 100% and giving all that we have. We hold a little back (or a lot back in some cases) probably mostly because it’s new to us and we are afraid, our money and our material goods have become our buffers of protection. But God tells us a countless number of times not to be afraid and to take courage. God has given us the courage, it’s our turn to notice it.
Now, this has been on my mind for quite some time and I always come back to the How? How do we start... and all I have thought of is that it needs to start with a we.