In his book A Good and Beautiful Community, James Bryan Smith quotes an early Christian document known as the Letter to Diognetus (AD 120–200): “Though they are residents at home in their own countries, their behavior there is more like transients . . . they obey the prescribed laws, but in their own private lives they transcend the laws. They show love to all men—and all men persecute them. They are misunderstood and condemned, but by suffering death they are quickened into life. They are poor, yet they make many rich. They lack all things, yet they have all things in abundance. They repay curses with blessings and abuse with courtesy.”

This statement about the early church affirms what Luke narrates about the very first church. Luke summarizes what marked the first church as a good and beautiful community. First, it was marked by worship: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to joining in the breaking of bread or communion and to praying together (Acts 2:42). Second, this community was marked by an awe for God’s presence through miracles, signs and wonders (Acts 2:43).

This new community was also marked by unity. They expressed this through the voluntary selling of their possessions (to make sure no one lacked anything), through meeting together daily in the temple courts for worship, and by eating together in one another’s homes (Acts 2:44-47). The result was God’s abiding presence and an effective witness to all people.

Like the first Jesus-centered community, let’s depend on the Holy Spirit to create a culture of interdependence through learning and submitting to Jesus’ words together. Let’s also engage in fellowship and eating and praying together. Then we too will be a beautiful community, experiencing God’s abiding presence while having an effective witness in the world.

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Jonah 1:1-2:10