What does community come from? The following text is from Martin Buber. Martin Buber was a Jewish philosopher of religion. His statements about “community” do not concern a Christian community, but “community” par excellence. His statement is general. It can be understood in general terms and then reflected upon and applied personally.
“The true church is not formed by people having feelings for one another (though not without that either), but by these two things.
1. that they all stand in living mutual relationship to a living center and
2. that they are in living mutual relationship with each other.
The second arises from the first, but is not yet given with it alone. Living mutual relationship includes feelings, but it does not come from them. The church builds itself from living mutual relationship, but the builder is the living working center.”
(From: Martin Buber, I and Thou)
The living center
Community, for it to thrive, wants to have a center. A living community needs a living center. What that is exactly may be defined differently from community to community. In a family, for example, there is a certain form of togetherness, in a sports club sport is central, and in a church or religious community the living center is different again. True community or true congregation is first created by finding or having such a center. Community is created when people join together to form this living center.
Living mutual relationship
However, a central theme, a living center alone, is not enough. Something else is needed. The personal relationship with the living center is still missing. That is why he adds this relationship to the center. What does it mean?
Martin Buber sees encounter as central in this world. Human beings are shaped by relationships. To put it casually, in this world we can not only have“relationship boxes,” but we are fundamentally “relationship boxes.” Everything in life is about relationships, for better or worse. Relationships are what we want. That is how we are made. From this we receive blessings and curses, and nothing shapes ourselves and our desires as much as relationships. Martin Buber, for example, also coined the phrase: “All real life is encounter”. Encounter and relationship are what makes us human, what corresponds to our nature, and what we are designed for. Real life – a life truly worthy of the name – is fulfilled only through true deep encounter.
“All real life is encounter”
Martin Buber, I and You
Community is built on us forming relationships. First and foremost, it is a personal relationship with the living center of the community. In a family, it may be that everyone to the common living space (to the “family”) maintains this relationship. In a sports club, it is probably the enthusiasm for the sport and for the joint competitions and sociability experienced in it.
In a community of faith, the living center is characterized by common trust, a trust that in the Judeo-Christian understanding is always directed toward communion with a personal God who makes himself known in this world and also in our lives. Alive and mutual, only that is a characteristic of true community.
Relationship with each other
The living center is just that – the center. From the center, however, community emerges outward, both in relationship to the center and then in lively mutual relationship with one another. Among each other and with each other.
Community, then, is more than an impersonally lived belonging, and it is more than mere registered membership. Community is enlivened and shaped by mutual relationship. However, it is built from the living center. This is how Martin Buber concludes the text: “The community builds itself from the living mutual relationship, but the builder is the living active center”.
Community implies relationship and encounter, not superficial, but touching in some way. This is an approach that can be followed as a point of reference and pivot for any kind of community. If this relationship and encounter is missing, then the community is missing. It can be a concern of a church, community or other group to promote relationship and encounter. This requires social elements as well as stimuli to deal with essential life questions and situations.
Exchange questions
- In a church, a congregation, or a small group, what would be “the living working center”?
- What does Buber mean by “alive”? What does he mean by “acting”? What about “mutual”?
- Can a “living effective center” emerge without community?
- Why does Buber speak of “true” community, or “true” community?
- If there is only a common center, but no relationship with each other, what can that lead to?
- If there are only relationships with each other, but no living center, what can that lead to?
- Feelings? Yes! But only from feeling? – Why does Buber point beyond the feelings?
- Read Ephesians 4:3-6. Is it possible to find back here what Martin Buber describes as a “living active center”?
- Read Ephesians 3:16-19. Is it possible to find back here what Martin Buber describes as a “living mutual relationship”?
- Is there a thought here worth pursuing?
