A Reading Guide for A Testament of Devotion

Chapter Three: The Blessed Community

A General Introduction to the Reading Guide

Should you accompany me in exploring Christian spirituality utilizing the Christian spiritual classic, A Testament of Devotion, by Thomas Kelly as a guidebook, I have committed to furnishing you with a written reading guide each week. I will present a video introduction and reflection on the chapter we are currently reading on Thursday this week.

Reading Chapter Three is the goal for this week. Chapter three is an antidote to the drift into a virulent and aggressive tribalism that is wreaking havoc on global and local cultures, churches, and families. It is a word for a time like ours. If explored and accepted, you will find it possesses an idea that will heal the deep fissures that have erupted and threaten the health and viability of society and the church. In other words, brief as it is, it is an essential chapter.

Whenever I read it, I marvel that someone saw beyond superficial ideas of fellowship and wrote these words. My heart is thrilled to see that he has tapped the yearning of the human heart to experience union with God and to discover and experience communion with others who are finding union with God. After reading chapter three, I am always re-enthused about the possibility of forging a FELLOWSHIP OF BLESSED COMMUNITY in a time of discouraging tribalism.

Now that you know how chapter three—The Blessed Community—impacts me, let me tell you three things about it as a general introduction to the chapter:

1. It was written as a stand-alone essay, not as chapter three in a book. I have said this before but Kelly did not intend it to follow what the book calls chapters one and two or precede chapter four. So, the ideas contained in chapter three are wholly intact, not conditioned by what comes before or after. So, you can read it this one chapter as a complete thought, with everything he wanted to say about community contained in this chapter.

2. While everything I just stated is entirely correct, the editors chose to position this piece after The Light Within (Chapter One) and Holy Obedience (Chapter Two). Kelly's editors were close friends who, after his tragic passing, wanted us to know what he had uncovered. The greatest calamity of his life, his inability to pass his PhD examinations at Harvard, destroyed his dreams and hopes for the future. Kelly had been living his dream until that terrible moment. He was chasing his ambitions. It was his exclusive focus; there was little room for inclusion within a community. However, the destruction of his aspirations and desires produced the ideal circumstances for the discovery of a lifetime: there is a sanctuary inside us — the soul — where the divine person — the Living God — and the human person live in intimacy with one another. He was astounded by humans' ability to know God intimately and be known by God in such depth. Previously, he had been planning, with the help of a philosophical lens, to study the idea of God. Following his academic disaster, he found himself experiencing and encountering the Presence of God directly, or to use his word, in “immediacy.” This is described wonderfully in Chapter One. In Chapter Two, the emphasis switches from the spiritual experience of God in Christ to Christ's authoritarian claims over our lives. In the divine center where Christ resides with us and we dwell with Christ, "No remnant of reservation of 'our' rights can remain. Straddle arrangements and compromises between our allegiances to the surface level and the divine heart are unsustainable." Once Christ is known intimately, the only alternative is absolute obedience to Him. The Third Chapter delves into another implication of the experience of God: the actuality of a new kind of human community formed by the experience of God. As more people experience this profound communion with God, it must bind hearts together in a sort of fellowship that cannot be replicated by political allegiance, religious membership, or national and ethnic identity. It is a chapter that will severely confront today's disastrous culture of tribalism and hatred.

3. The third chapter, The Blessed Community, is Kelly’s attempt to describe what a community looks like. Spoiler alert: it is far more than what passes as community today. He will tell us what it is and help us see the inadequacy of what normally passes as fellowship and community.

May your thirst and hunger for a depth of community grow as you read and reflect on chapter three.

I’ve prepared a reading guide to help you get more from the second chapter. It has two sections: Suggestions for Reading a Spiritual Classic and Chapter Three Reading Guide. As you keep reading, you’ll find both of these sections.

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Suggestions for Reading a Spiritual Classic

First, begin with prayer

God is going to reveal Himself to you. He is going to reveal a word that will kindle your imagination. Prepare yourself for this discovery by breathing a short prayer to prepare your mind, spirit, and soul for receptivity. It can be as simple as, “God, open my eyes that I might see.” Whatever words you breathe will help center your focus as you begin to read.

Second, slow is the speed of discovery

Just as when you read a portion of scripture meditatively, select a manageable portion of the chapter and read until an insight leaps out at you. Do not intend to read the entire chapter from beginning to end in one sitting. Much will pass you by that you fail to notice. When a verse, a few words, or even one or two words strike a chord within you, pause and consider what you have discovered. While the chapter is not lengthy, there is no pressure to read it all. You can always return and read more later.

Third, ask some questions.

Here are just a few of the questions you might ask:

• Does the passage that caught my attention give me new insight into the nature of God?

• Does it explain something about the spiritual life I didn’t understand before?

• Does it tell me something about myself?

• What must I do to act on the insight I’ve just gained?

Fourth, rest quietly in the treasure you’ve discovered.

Sit quietly for a few moments before going on with your day. Be alert to the gentle movements of the Spirit. Then have an open conversation about what you have read and seen with the Lord. God loves a good dialogue. He led you purposefully to the discoveries you made just so you could have a conversation in the cool of the garden over the treasure he packed into this chapter, waiting for your discovery in 2024!

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Lastly, write down your new insights, discoveries, and commitments in a notebook (journal).

Keeping a record of what you have found, with a date and location added, will help you build a record that will reveal your life's real transformation over time.

Reading Guide for Chapter Three: The Blessed Community

Following are a few suggestions to help you understand better what you are about to find in The Blessed Community

Be a Word Detective

1. Kelly will use two common words: 1) fellowship and 2) community. We recognize the words. We have read them many times or heard them used many times in conversation. But words that are familiar are at risk of taking on meanings that blur or downgrade their actual meaning and power. One example is I pastored a church once that used the word “fellowship” exclusively for a post-worship potluck meal: “You are invited to stay after worship for our monthly fellowship meal.” Take some time and redefine the two words according to how Kelly wants us to understand what the words mean. What is fellowship, according to Kelly? What is community, according to fellowship, according to Kelly? How do they differ from how you hear the words used today?

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