The time is long overdue for Christians to think in terms of "We" rather than "I." The biblical focus is on the community. God's answer to the human predicament was to create a new community, to start a family. Individuals gain their identity by belonging to the community, and the community finds fulfillment in the individual.

Among all the miracles contained in the books of the Second Testament, perhaps the most astounding is the emergence out of a scattered, disheartened, confused, and weak collection of a few hesitant believers the enduring foundations of the Christian church. How did this happen? What enabled this tattered remnant to weave itself into the "seamless robe of Christ"? Their secret was no secret. Beginning with the event of Pentecost the early Christian believers devoted themselves wholeheartedly to building a distinctive community of faith, unique to the world.

The radically new nature of these early Christian communities is made apparent when the bonds of social cohesion uniting other groups are examined. Social scientist Rene Girard has developed the thesis that "human communities prior and outside the Christian revelation, develop out of an act of violence which unites all over - against one." (See Thomas Wieser, "Community - Its Unity, Diversity and Universality," Semeia 33 (1985), 83-95).

Girard maintains that traditionally communities use scapegoating to select a victim to blame and exclude from their ranks. The group then finds solidarity in placing blame on one and the violence vented on the excluded one firmly unites the rest, creating community bonds.

Girard argues that community solidarity has been overwhelmingly based on this "all-against-one" premise. To insure their continued survival, communities impose rules prohibiting "mimetic" (i.e. imitative) behavior in order to avoid intracommunity rivalries. In the earliest Christian communities the scapegoat release valve for hostilities and promoting unity is discarded. By refusing to base community ties on a foundation of violent, exclusory action, a radically new kind of community is proposed.

The most perfect example of this change is found in the story of Jesus and the woman who was being prosecuted for adultery (John 8:1-11). Here is a typical scapegoat scenario: The woman is isolated, the community's rejection of her is complete, and her traditional punishment (stoning to death) is a classic act of violence. When confronted with this clear-cut situation, Jesus invokes his new rules for community and destroys the establishment "logic" of legal violence. Jesus' retort to the Pharisees, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her," shatters the illusion of this woman's essential difference from the rest of the community. She can no longer serve as their scapegoat. Her violent death would now further disrupt the community, not unify it. Jesus reveals that God's "Kingdom" is a "kingdom" of people unified by forces of love and forgiveness.

In Acts the post-resurrection, post-ascension band of believers is shown trying to discern the non-violent glue that will establish and maintain their identity. Before his death Jesus spoke often about what should be the true nature of this new community. In Mark 10:42-44 he responded to the petty but disruptive rivalry among the disciples by proclaiming that "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave to all."

Yet until the event of Pentecost the disciples were incapable of carrying out this mandate. They were the castout ones, the community's scapegoats, and the violence of Jesus' crucifixion had effectively served to rally their persecutors more closely around them.

At Pentecost the inclusive, rather than exclusive nature of Christian community was demonstrated. Reversing the Tower of Babel narrative, the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost makes communication between people of all languages once again possible. And judging from Peter's new posture of poise and power before the crowd, the gift of the Spirit also gave the disciples the ability to stand together in peace in spite of their violent ostracism from the rest of the old community.

From the time of Pentecost on, the story of the Church is the story of its struggle to maintain this unique nature of "kingdom" community. In Acts 2:41-47 and 4:32 ff. Luke articulates one method the early Christian communities used to break the traditional chain of competitive rivalries whose presence disrupts and divides people. Here in Acts community is nurtured and strengthened by a commitment to pooled resources. Eliminating one of the most divisive, exclusive elements in society, these Christians illustrate the new operative rules of economic association. No scapegoats separate the haves from the have nots. The entire group is dependent upon the contributions of each individual member. The story of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5 demonstrates how utterly Christians may "fall apart" when they fail to honor their promise to stand together.

In Acts the theme of inclusiveness is replayed again and again. The experience at Pentecost opened the ears of all diaspora Judaism, inviting them to listen to the Christian witness in their own tongues. In Acts 10 the door is opened still wider when the Gentile Cornelius is invited to join the community of faithful. In chapter 15 a potentially exclusory rule is abandoned and all Gentiles, even the uncircumcised, are welcomed into the bonds of community.

This new type of community endured beyond the first generation of Christians. Paul found himself reminding the church at Corinth that its very foundation was Christ. With Christ as the bedrock of the community there is no room for any violent or exclusory tests for communal membership. When the gift of the Spirit itself threatens to become a cause for mimetic rivalry, Paul lectures the Corinthians, reasserting that the very nature of the Holy Spirit is to unify, not to divide. In 1 Corinthians 12:12 ff. Paul uses the analogy of the body to ridicule the existence of this internecine bickering over "gifts" surviving in a Christian community.

As Christian communities continue to struggle to remain faithful to the image of community as ordained by Jesus and practiced with varying degrees of success by the early church, there is one more model we may turn to for guidance. So obvious that it may be overlooked, the uniquely Christian notion of a triune God, the doctrine of the Trinity itself, serves as an illustration of how we must remain united in community. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit stand together in a unified relationship, untainted by any struggles for superiority. The power and comfort we find in a Godhead which is "three in one" must be reflected in our church communities where we are many united in Christ Jesus.