COMMON UNION

A Case for Covenant in Modern Christian Community

by Johnny Kerr

PART 1

The word “covenant” seems largely absent from our modern-day Western vernacular. Christians will likely recognize the word from our sacred text, possibly with little context or vision for its application in modernity. In our increasingly hyper-individualized American culture, any loss of our covenant identity as Christians is to the detriment of the rich community life Christ has invited us—His beloved bride—to thrive and grow in until His return. A quick look at mental health statistics, or a glimpse at our current political climate, would seem to indicate that many of us are already experiencing the natural consequences of this shift away from community identity.

We are collectively—and, simultaneously, in isolation—experiencing various forms of disconnectedness and mental unhealth, and it hurts. A 2018 survey of 20,000 adults living in the US reports that, on average, over 40% of people over the age of 18 experience pervasive feelings of loneliness. The same report cites the effects of loneliness on mortality as equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Depression and suicide have become a modern epidemic with 11% of Americans over the age of 12 reportedly taking anti-depressants and an average of 130 suicide deaths each day in the US. “The modern age has made it easy to live in convenience but not in community. Many feel alone and disembodied, constantly pulled in a myriad of directions and left desiring authentic companionship.” Simply put, we need each other to thrive.

In the US we have been catechized to value independence at a premium, to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps because needing others—or, God forbid, actually depending on others when we are in need—is weakness. Advertising culture has cleverly wooed us into a perpetual state of insatiable lack while promising we can “have it your way.” Our politically-charged media outlets use fear to pressure us into oversimplified, false dichotomies that chip away at our peace and shared values until we descend into a chaotic circus of angry caricatures shouting regurgitated rhetoric. This perfect storm of cultural pressures has pushed us away from community identity rooted in shared values, and towards hyper-individualized identities based largely on our perceived differences. Toxic individualism is a grave cultural ill that is costing many in quality of life.

Our Good Shepherd has shown us a better Way and charged us with proclaiming that good news to the world, discipling and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20). The church must reignite, by experience and example, a common vision for a beloved community where we carry our burdens, celebrate life’s joys, and experience transformation together. By faith we are children of God’s covenant family with the pleasure and duty of putting on display the goodness of Jesus’ Kingdom to the world. One of the primary ways we do this is by taking care of—and being cared for by—each other (John 13:35).

I would give the benefit of the doubt that the average person, when given the opportunity, would be inclined to help out a fellow human in need. Most of us are familiar with the good feelings we experience when helping others. Yet, when we are in need, we are often hesitant to ask for help for fear of being a burden to others. In believing this cultural lie we rob others of the joy of expressing generosity towards us while condemning ourselves to continue suffering alone. As a father myself, I can begin to imagine how our Heavenly Father must weep to see His beloved in this isolated, exhausted, and distressed state.

To further complicate the matter for Christians, our call to care for others and to be cared for by others must also extend beyond those we find easy to love. We are also called to love our enemies (Luke 6:35). This command is not hyperbolic, and it covers the entire spectrum from love to indifference to enmity. For most of us, if we’re honest with ourselves, that desire to proactively care for those to whom we feel indifference or enmity won’t come naturally, and it won’t come through cultural pressures or expectations. It comes from a life surrendered to Christ. To Jesus, love of God and love of others are so inseparable that He paired them together to sum up the entirety of God’s law (Mark 12:28-31).

What does this have to do with covenant community? A successful covenant relationship is one in which all parties have an equal stake, regardless of status, ability, or need. “I” becomes “we”. We navigate sorrows and experience joy in solidarity. We complement each other, filling in each other's gaps and gaining strength in unity. That stands in stark contrast to our new cultural norm of suffering alone. The book of Ecclesiastes provides an inspiring plea for these Kingdom ideals: 

“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

To be continued…

References and Notes

  1. Cigna. (2018, May). The state of Loneliness in America. Cigna US Loneliness Index. Retrieved June 28, 2022, from https://secure.cigna.com/assets/docs/newsroom/loneliness-survey-2018-updated-fact-sheet.pdf 

  2. Pratt, L. A., Brody, D. J., &; Gu, Q. (2015, November 6). Products - data briefs - number 76 - October 2011. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved June 27, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db76.htm

  3. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2022, June 14). Suicide statistics. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Retrieved June 28, 2022, from https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics/

  4. Axiom Church, Axiom Church Common Union Initiative, unpublished

  5. Language can be tricky. Despite best efforts to communicate with clarity and truth, we recognize the very real possibility of misunderstanding or disagreement, especially when pushing back against cultural norms. If you have questions or concerns about anything written here, please reach out to an Axiom leader to express concerns, seek clarification, and continue a healthy dialog in the context of loving community.

Disconnected

by Christina Trifanoff

My husband and I have attended Axiom for over four years now. We love our wonderful Axiom brothers and sisters. Still, we find at times that we experience feelings of disconnect from others. Ghandi said, “be the change you want to see you in the world.” This really speaks to me and so I do what I can to be Intentional about my relationship with others..

I am reminded that there are quite a few people at our church that are artists and artists tend to be introverted. I am not introverted! If you know me you know I’m extroverted and a people person. I enjoy talking with others and doing life together.

When I feel disconnected I look at myself and ask what could I do differently. I ask if I’m in true self (spirit self) or in the false self (body) if I am in the spirit I will be prompted to outreach to others or wait as the Holy Spirit guides. If I am in the body or false self I can become negative and feel rejected and alone.

I have a vision of the kingdom of God as this beautifully flowing river with an invitation for all to jump in the river. Sometimes I feel like I’m on the banks and not able to jump in due to my false self characteristics. Perhaps I’m feeling down or depressed. Sometimes I am consumed with worry, fear, sadness or feelings of rejection. The truth is that none of us are rejected but fully accepted in both our divine true self as well as our weaker false self (body).

Then, at other times I feel I am in the river beckoning others to join. I believe this is when I am in the true self and seeking unity in the body. This, as Paul would call is the spiritual self. We are seeking union with others and are all part of the same union. This is what we are made for in the Kingdom of God. For me the description of this beautiful flowing river works. If you are ever feeling disconnected, reach out to others and share your feelings. Odds are that you are not alone in your feelings and at that very moment someone else needs that connection as well.

Knowledge vs. Surrender: A Kingdom Lens for Discerning Beyond Right and Wrong

by Johnny Kerr

As a high school photography teacher, I am tasked with teaching teenagers how to operate sophisticated modern digital SLR cameras and create artistic images. A decent student will, over the course of a year, learn how to intentionally apply ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed settings to achieve correct exposure. A good student will go beyond these basic techniques and begin to make reliable predictions, creatively executing these concepts to advance the artistry of their images. A great student will, at times, knowingly break the very rules I’ve taught them in service of intentional artistic expression. An exceptional student will do all of the above, and then invite me into their process of reflection and critique. Exceptional students, despite all their hard work and excellent achievements, maintain a teachable posture.

Rules and guidelines are useful constraints for a novice. They create a structured environment where some variables are eliminated so we can successfully navigate scenarios that would otherwise confound us. They provide a consistent framework in which we deepen our experience and develop instincts. It seems, however, that a time comes when a committed learner outgrows these constructs and needs something beyond knowledge to continue growing. Some of the rules that served us well in the past may need breaking, bending, or expanding. We may even receive backlash from our peers or critics for doing so. If knowledge can’t ultimately free us, then what?

Kingdom 101

We live in an age where facts, logic, and reason are held in high esteem. This is not a bad thing, but it has the potential to be. It seems to me that there are times when Truth transcends both fact and reason. After all, as the apostle, Paul asserts “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (1 Corinthians).” If you have any doubts about this, a quick montage sequence of our scriptural narrative should provide plenty of case studies.

In the beginning, God emphasized relationship with humanity over and above legalism. Adam and Eve, we read in Genesis, were given great freedom and access to God, but only one rule: “...you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil...” Instead of giving humankind a laundry list of do’s and don’ts, God merely asked for our trust and dependence. Fast-forward back to the apostle’s day, and we see that Israel not only had volumes upon volumes of law code but also felt separated, even abandoned by God. What was responsible for this grotesque reversal of the relationship-to-legalism ratio? The culprit was the alternative “wisdom” offered by the serpent and our subsequent shift from trusting God to trusting worldly reason. Sure, it sounded logical and conceivable, but look where it got us.

Nevertheless, God kept pursuing us. Through Moses God delivered Israel from the bondage their rebellion had gotten them into. God miraculously sustained their bodies with manna and appeased their skepticism by appearing before them as pillars of cloud and fire throughout their Exodus journey. God gave the ten commandments, along with a system of rituals and rites that provided a framework for a healthy community under God’s rule. But before Moses could even make it off the mountain, the people had already forgotten these wonders and rebelled, turning again to the wisdom of the world and fashioning a god for themselves out of gold.

Fast-forward to the book of 1 Samuel, and we see Israel demanding that God give them a king so that they can be like the other nations of the world. God tasked the prophet with trying to reason with Israel, reminding them that God’s desire was for humanity to look to God as King and that anything less would be disastrous. Israel was stubborn and, once again, humankind rebelled, choosing worldly wisdom and breaking away from God’s desire for relationship, trust, and dependence. Israel’s knowledge of the ways of the world may have been accurate, but that knowledge still proved to be foolish.

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Something Old and Something New

Fast-forward to Jesus. God entered into God’s own creation to do what no human could do; redeem humanity and establish a Kindom of God-rule on earth. God wanted us back in Eden with God in charge. Jesus did this in the most unexpected, unimaginable, and outright foolish manner; he let us humiliate and murder him. But we know that, while factual, that is not the Truth. There’s a different, truer narrative there if we put our trust in God. I love the way The Message translates it: “He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets (Colossians 2).” When the spiritual tyrants and rulers of this world thought they had Jesus exactly where they wanted him—naked and humiliated as he marched to his death in defeat—God’s Truth revealed that it was indeed the other way around.

Time and again, humanity has proven that when we rely solely on our own understanding, on the wisdom, logic, and reason of the world, we end up in hell. Even our reliance on the laws given to Israel by God seemed to, on their own, fall short. Over and again, God has asked for our trust and dependence. Over and again, God finds a way to repair the bridge to relationship with us. It seems Jesus was doing a new thing, and he was, but he was also calling us back to the beginning, inviting us into the same old trust and dependence upon God that was desired for Adam and Eve in the garden. Anything less is folly and futile. Humankind has proven that many times over.

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In Defense of Knowledge

Lest we throw out the baby with the bathwater, it is worth noting that wisdom and knowledge are gifts from God. As we saw in the garden, though, leaning on our own (or the world’s) knowledge doesn’t go well for us. There are healthy and unhealthy ways to use the gift of knowledge. We are invited to use our heart, our soul, and our mind in worship of God (Deut. 6, Deut. 10, Mat. 22, Mark 12, etc.). When we surrender our knowing to God, our gift of knowledge is put to good use. When we allow knowledge to go rogue, out of service to God, it tends to cause all sorts of problems.

As previously stated, rules can be of great service to a learner. The wisdom that comes from experiencing life within the constraints of the law is a wonderful gift, so long as we remember to worship the Giver of the law and all knowledge rather than worshiping the law (or knowledge) itself. That is no different than fashioning idols from wood, stone, or precious metal to worship (i.e., worshiping creation instead of the Creator, as Jeremiah admonishes).

In complex situations, rules can potentially become a hindrance if we aren’t submitting them to Jesus. Blind adherence to the law for the sake of the law may end up causing the very harm the law was intended to avoid. Similarly, worrying about whether or not others are adhering to the law rather than checking our own hearts (see Mat. 7) is also a perversion of the loving, protective nature behind the law. We see this played out in Jesus’ interactions with the Pharisees when they criticize him for healing on the sabbath.

John 5 tells the story of Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath who had suffered 38 years of affliction. Rather than rejoicing over this miracle, the Jewish law-keepers despised Jesus with murderous intensity. They worshipped the law with such fervor that their hearts had hardened to the point they were unable to recognize God’s healing love expressed through Jesus. When called out for his law-breaking, Jesus establishes his authority as God’s son while also demonstrating that the law serves God, not the other way around. Jesus models for us that looking to the Father is more important than merely following rules. Our God is love, and if we “...understand all mysteries and knowledge… but have not love, [we are] nothing (1 Corinthians 13).” I deduce from scripture that, when it comes to knowledge, there are right ways of being wrong, and wrong ways of being right.

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Better Than Knowing

Over the last few weeks, a student of mine has been unknowingly teaching me about the Kingdom of God. As I transitioned from teaching remotely from home during the pandemic to returning to the classroom for the first time in a year, I got to meet my students for the first time face-to-face. One particular student, Mike, was quick to notice my daily routine of following the students to the door at the end of the period and closing it behind them. I have to sanitize all surfaces between each class period, so I close and lock the door to make sure nobody enters the room before it has been sanitized.

Around the third day after returning to campus, and upon noticing my daily routine, Mike took his time walking to the door so that he would be the last student out. When he reached the door, he turned to ask, “would you like me to close the door for you, Mr. Kerr?” “Sure,” I said, “and thank you!” The next day it was the same, “Would you like me to close the door for you, Mr. Kerr?” “Yes, thanks.” We repeated this dance the following day, and the day after that...

A week passed, and Mike continued asking me every day at the end of the period if I would like him to close the door. At first, I found it odd that he wouldn’t just assume my “yes” after a week of our consistent routine, and just close the door behind him automatically. The Lord seemed to be bringing my attention to this, so I listened. I recognized the Kingdom model of humility and service Mike had been demonstrating towards me. Instead of assuming from experience that I would like the door closed, he kept checking with me each day to make sure he was still doing my will. Instead of leaning on his own knowledge, he asked for my “yes.”

Ecclesiastes tells us that, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” So, how do we discern whether we are in a “time to plant” or “a time to pluck?” Jesus told the Pharisees in John 5 that he can do nothing unless he sees the Father doing it. My student, Mike reminded me that, though my mind is capable of recognizing patterns and making logical connections, it is better to look to God rather than leaning on my own understanding, lest my knowledge be found lacking or “out of season.” I recognize in looking at God’s history with humanity that God desires surrender above all else, that righteousness is the result of surrender to God, not possessing the “right” knowledge.

Heavenly Father, I confess my sin of intellectual pride and humbly ask for your forgiveness. I thank you for this reminder from my student, Mike of Jesus’ example to “seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” May we become increasingly aware of your Presence in our daily lives, and look to you rather than worshipping worldly knowledge. May your gift of knowledge be applied by us in obedience as an act of worship, and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Amen.

Here There Be Monsters

by Johnny Kerr

On the first Sunday of 2021, Pastor Erik welcomed us into the New Year with an exploration of the First Epistle of John. As he unpacked the writer’s use of light as a metaphor, I couldn’t help but think about how our historical and cultural context might be over-informing our understanding of light and darkness as symbols of good and evil rather than as symbols of revelation and hiddenness. 

I asked myself: “Although light and darkness may be helpful visualization tools for good and evil, are darkness and evil really synonymous? And if not, as I suspect, is distinguishing them from each other helpful?” 

While pondering these questions, I thought about some of the ways that humanity has historically dealt with the hidden mysteries of the unknown. For example, it became common practice for medieval cartographers to illustrate unknown (terra incognita) or dangerous (terra pericolosa) territories on the map with graphic depictions of dragons, sea monsters, and other mythical beasts. Sometimes those maps would bear phrases such as “here there be dragons” or “tygers” or “monsters.”

Today we know that, though these territories indeed presented explorers with unique challenges and dangers to overcome, none of them actually contained mythical beasts such as dragons or sea monsters. These illustrated creatures were imaginative expressions of potential dangers rather than factual representations. They were placeholders for the mysteries of the unknown.

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Darkness! What Is It Good For?

Mythology and literature throughout human history are replete with themes of good vs. evil, often infused with the dramatic imagery of light and darkness. In modern expressions, namely motion pictures, we frequently encounter the same mythological archetypes and metaphors. For example, George Lucas’ cultural phenomenon, Star Wars, overtly identifies the antagonists as practitioners of the “dark side.” These oversimplifications of good vs. evil and light vs. darkness are fine as storytelling devices. But, like all good metaphors, they eventually fall apart and cease being useful if we take them too far and allow them to define reality. Life is infinitely more complex than any one metaphor can contain, as is the Kingdom of God.

In contemplating these themes, I’ve come to the hypothesis that darkness, in and of itself, is not evil. Darkness merely provides an ideal environment of obscurity, a playground for that which desires to stay hidden. In the cover of night, destructive forces whisper from dark corners, attempting to draw us away from the light they wouldn’t dare approach lest they be seen for what they are. In the absence of light, corruption and malice run rampant. Although evil has no rightful claim over darkness, darkness is the only realm in which wickedness can take root and reign. For these reasons, I find that darkness as a metaphor, at least as it is used in the Bible, is better understood as hiddenness (lack of revelation) than as an evil entity unto itself.

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Are You Afraid of the Dark?

The reason I’ve gone to the trouble of teasing out these subtle distinctions has much to do with the way we confront the darkness within ourselves. Our understanding here might even impact our motivation to confront our inner darkness at all. If we have the notion that in confronting the darkness within ourselves we are somehow flirting with evil, we may end up avoiding those places altogether, allowing what is hidden to stay hidden. Similarly, if we imagine these dark places as too mysterious and dangerous, full of mythical beasts and bogeymen, we may become too afraid to shine light into them. By avoiding our own darkness we allow what is hidden to wield its weapons of shame and fear against us, to continue the subtle deceptions that give it power to reign in the unexplored territories of our souls.

COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on lives across the world. Putting aside the obvious health and financial struggles plaguing most, it has also impacted many of us in more uniquely personal ways. For some, it has confronted us like an inescapable mirror, forcing us to reckon with parts of ourselves that were previously hidden in the mundane routine of pre-COVID daily life; in the illusion that we have everything under control. Personally, this last year has revealed much to me about the depths of my struggles with anger.

I’ve always felt emotions with a great, driving intensity. It serves me well as an artist. It serves my family and community well when it comes to feelings like love and compassion. But I struggle when it comes to emotions like anger. Anger is a large territory that I’ve always known existed in me. Although I’ve certainly grown and matured over the years, in full transparency, I’ve been afraid to become too acquainted with anger in particular lest it overcome me. At times I’ve fooled myself into thinking I’ve tamed this particular beast, only to have extreme circumstances bring it to the surface and knock me down. Among the many challenges COVID brought to light, anger reared its ugly head over and again to the point that I found myself feeling helpless and lamenting:


Anger’s hooks sink deep

Tendrils pierce marrow

A devilish transfusion underway 

A moment of peace

Filled with holy light

No, but a taste and my demon is loosed

Principles trampled

I hate that I am

become visceral rage that will not still


I wrote this short poem in a particularly difficult moment. I was angry about how angry I was about circumstances that were beyond my control. Seriously! I was angry about being angry! The only thing I could think to do was to call it out by name and curse it. Just as mythical beasts on medieval maps were not literal representations of reality, neither is this poem. It is a temporary placeholder that merely acknowledges my fear of the hidden and scary places within myself. It is a small step towards giving some form of identity to this unknown territory. The next step is to surrender, to lay down my fears and invite Jesus to walk further into it with me. Little by little, we will push onward into these territories, demystify the unknown, address conflicts as they arise, and surrender them to the Light of Jesus. This is a lesson I must relearn over and again.

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A New Hope

Changing our calendars to 2021 does not guarantee that we are free from the struggles we faced in 2020. Neither will any elected politician fix everything that is wrong with our lives and our country. It also seems that COVID will be hanging around for awhile. As exhausted as we all feel presently, we have no choice but to press into the unknown future. The good news is that, as followers of Jesus, our true hope lies in none of these worldly things. We have an Eternal Spirit, a Prince of Peace, a Heavenly Father to look to. We have God With Us.

My hypothesis claims that darkness itself is not evil; evil just hangs out there. There may indeed be monsters lurking in the unknown darkness. But, more likely than not, we will often find that our fear is actually bigger and more debilitating than any hypothetical monsters lurking in the dark. Darkness is not substantial. It is merely the absence of light, and there is no amount of darkness that can resist the smallest glimmer of light. So, in the words of the Lord’s many messengers throughout the Bible, fear not! You need not dread pressing into your own dark places because the Light of Christ is in you. His light shines into the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6 (Instrumental Song by George White)

Go Tell It On The Mountain (War Is Over) by George White

"War is over now" struck me as a beautiful vision of the present Kingdom brought by the coming of Christ. So go tell it on the mountain! - George