I’ve been thinking about miracles lately.
I mentioned this last week in the annual reprinting of my Thanksgiving column that recounts the miracle recovery of our son after being born premature due to a car accident.
Almost 18 years later, the same kid was involved in another car accident.
This time, he was driving and his grandfather was a passenger.
I wrote about this experience back in September after it happened.
You can catch up on that column at https://www.whitesboronewsrecord.com/article/1701,from-the-publisher, but essentially my son and father-in-law were in a head-on collision on US 377.
It happened on Sept. 11. Jackson is still in a wheelchair though he is expected to fully recover. Hopefully he’ll be able to start putting weight on his foot again next week.
His grandfather took the brunt on injuries. He suffered 23 fractures and has had stays in the hospital ICU, Long Term Acute Care and Skilled Nursing. We are moving him to in-patient rehab this week.
It’s a wonder they both survived. A miracle— you could say. As such, again, the notions of miracles have been on my mind.
When the 911 call went out, an entire orchestrated response took effect.
My son and father-in-law are alive today because of the actions of hundreds of people— firefighters, EMTs, doctors, surgeons, nurses, therapists, technicians, family members, friends, janitors, cooks, aids, social workers, administrators— the list goes on.
An entire extended community of strangers assembled. Their efforts were pooled and lives were saved.
The miracle of healing through Christ materialized to the physical by the works of this extended community.
And how fitting— since one of our chief directives, as believers, is to build community.
Bible verses about building community abound.
Hebrews 10:24-25 encourages stirring one another to love and good works.
Galatians 6:2 calls us to bear one another’s burdens.
1 Corinthians 12:25-27 compares the church community to a body with many members who must have the same care for one another.
Other key verses emphasize unity, such as Romans 15:5 and 1 Corinthians 1:10, and the importance of fellowship, as seen in Acts 2:42.
So, Jesus called us to build community. Some argue that was his number one directive.
I’m beginning to believe that community is the greatest miracle. Yes, the healing comes to be by the power of the all mighty, but it’s the hands of the community that do the work.
What if it was the community that fed each other after the Sermon on the Mount?
What if Jesus brought his five loaves of bread and two fish and asked, “What did y’all bring?”
What if folks pooled the food in a big community potluck and that’s how the miracle occurred?
Folks feeding each other after seeing his example? The notion leaves me wondering if I am crazy or heretical for thinking this way.
So, I asked some friends of mine— both of whom are ministers.
“No, brother. You’re spot on,” one friend replied. “I’ve been living in John 17 lately. What if we became one as He and the Father were one? Christianity would flourish around the world because, ‘they will know that we are His disciples because of the love that we show.’”
He went further and offered his assessment of the current state of the church community.
“There are those among us that feel the church has failed,” he said. “I think it relates back to their message of legalism… Paul clearly laid out the use of the law of Moses in the process of salvation. The law of Moses condemns. The law of Jesus— the law of love— sets us free. If we are going to be legalistic about anything, it should be the Law of Christ. That ‘law’ says, ‘I command you to love one another.’”
And then he made a vivid analogy.
“You can look at it this way. The Law of Moses is the prosecutor. The Law of Christ is the defense. The judge is God,” he said. “God always sides with the defense because the guilty verdict and the penalty have already been decided by the cross.”
Another minister friend agreed when asked about the hypothetical potluck after the Sermon on the Mount.
“I don’t think you’re crazy at all. There are plenty of mystic writers who have very plausible, everyday explanations for many of Jesus’ miracles,” he said. “And one of the strains of thought is to place the emphasis of the miracle on the recipient. In other words, it was the recipients’ belief, wonderment, gratitude, etc. that actually was the catalyst in the miracle.”
It’s like the words of that old Willie Nelson song:
“Miracles appear in the strangest of places, fancy me finding you here.”
Indeed, the days of miracles are not over because the miracle of community, empathy and being our brother’s keeper is not over.
Famed American author Kurt Vonnegut once said, “What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”
Building community facilitates miracles. We are the hands that do the work, and we are better together.