{"id":27152,"date":"2026-06-15T09:01:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T13:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27152"},"modified":"2026-06-15T10:18:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T14:18:40","slug":"27152","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=27152","title":{"rendered":"A New Way of Living"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Love Is Here - Tenth Avenue North (Lyrics)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OLy-B9LuqMo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A New Way of Living<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Sunday, June 14, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard Rohr reflects on the origin of the Christian church as \u201cthe Way\u201d:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christianity first emerged not as a new religion, but as a reform and sect of Judaism within Judea and the Mediterranean. Wherever Paul, Peter, and other early missionaries traveled, they formed <strong>small communities of believers in \u201cthe Way,\u201d a movement that emphasized Jesus\u2019s teachings, death, and resurrection as the path to transformation. <\/strong>Gradually the movement grew and took on a life of its own, welcoming non-Jews as well as Jews, becoming more inclusive and grace-oriented, until it eventually called itself \u201ccatholic\u201d or universal. By 80 CE, there were Christians as far away as India and France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The early church period (the five hundred or so years following Jesus\u2019s resurrection) was a time of dramatic change in culture, politics, and economy. All these changes affected the development of the fledgling religion, shaping liturgy, rituals, and theology. Historian Diana Butler Bass writes, \u201cFor all the complexity of primitive Christianity, a startling idea runs through early records of faith: <strong>Christianity seems to have succeeded because it transformed the lives of people in a chaotic world.\u201d<\/strong> [1] During this time, Christianity was <strong>not so much about doctrines or eternal salvation, but about how to live a better life here and now, within the \u201creign of God.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the perspective of occupying Roman powers, the Christian sect was radical because<strong> it encouraged alternative behaviors that were both attractive to those at the bottom and threatening to the worldview of empire.<\/strong> Rather than acquiring wealth, this new sect shared possessions equally. Followers of the Way lived together with people of different ethnicities and social classes rather than following classist and cultural norms. [2]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Much of what Jesus taught seems to have been followed closely during the first several hundred years after his death and resurrection. As long as Jesus\u2019s followers were on the bottom and the edge of empire, as long as they shared the rejected and betrayed status of Jesus, they could grasp his teaching more readily. <strong>Values like nonparticipation in war, simple living, inclusivity, and love of enemies could be more easily understood when Christians were gathering secretly in the catacombs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several writings illustrate this early commitment to Jesus\u2019s teachings on simplicity and generosity. For example, the&nbsp;<em>Didache<\/em>, compiled around 90 CE, says: \u201cShare all things with your brother, and do not say that they are your own. For if you are sharers in what is imperishable, how much more in things which perish!\u201d [3] At the time, Christianity was still pure, simple, and loving, relatively untouched by empire, rationalization, and compromise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>===================<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Being the Body of Christ<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Monday, June 15, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard describes the influence of the apostle Paul on the formation of the first Christian churches:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The apostle Paul knew that the gospel message must have concrete embodiment, so he set about founding what he called \u201cchurches.\u201d Jesus\u2019s first vision of church is so simple we could miss it: \u201c<strong>For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them\u201d <\/strong>(Matthew 18:20). This is surely why Jesus insists that the message be communicated not by a lone evangelist but by sending the disciples out \u201ctwo by two\u201d (Mark 6:7). <strong>The individual alone is not a fitting communicator of the core message<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During Paul\u2019s lifetime, the Christian church was not yet an institution or a centrally organized set of common practices and beliefs. <strong>It was&nbsp;<em>a living organism<\/em>&nbsp;that communicated the gospel primarily through relationships. <\/strong>Paul\u2019s brilliant metaphor for this living, organic, concrete embodiment is \u201cthe body of Christ\u201d: \u201cJust as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit, because all those parts make up a single body, so it is with Christ\u201d (1 Corinthians 12:12). At the heart of this body, providing the energy that enlivens the whole community, although each in different ways, is \u201cthe love of God that has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit\u201d (Romans 5:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This Spirit is itself the foundational energy of the universe, the Ground of All Being, described in the first lines of the Bible (Genesis 1:2). Union is not just pious rambling, but the very concrete work of God.<\/strong> It\u2019s how God makes love to what God created. Paul writes that it is precisely \u201cin your togetherness that you are Christ\u2019s Body\u201d (1 Corinthians 12:27).<strong> By remaining\u2014against all trials and resistance\u2014inside this luminous web of relationship, this vibrational state of love, we experience a very honest and healthy notion of communal salvation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The churches or communities Paul founded are his audiovisual aids that he can point to inside of a debauched empire (where human dignity was never upheld as inherent) to give credibility to his message. To people who asked, \u201cWhy should we believe there\u2019s a new or different life possible?\u201d<strong> Paul could say, \u201cLook at these people. They\u2019re different. This is a different social order.<\/strong>\u201d In Christ, \u201cthere are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus\u201d (Galatians 3:28). This is <strong>not just a religious idea, but a socioeconomic message that began to change the world\u2014and still can.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Jesus, teachings such as forgiveness, healing, and justice work are the real evidence of a new and shared life. <strong>If we do not see this happening in churches and spiritual communities, religion is \u201call in the head\u201d and largely an illusion. <\/strong>Peacemaking, forgiveness, and reconciliation are not some kind of ticket to heaven later. <strong>They are the price of peoplehood\u2014the signature of heaven\u2014now.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>==============<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Individual Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where in your life right now are you most aware of being held inside a web of relationship larger than yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Group Discussion \u2014 choose one:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>What does it cost you to remain inside community &#8220;against all trials and resistance&#8221;?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Where have you experienced togetherness itself as the saving thing \u2014 not belief, not doctrine, but the web?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What would it mean to treat your belonging to this body as the spiritual practice, not a support for some other practice?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A New Way of Living Sunday, June 14, 2026 Father Richard Rohr reflects on the origin of the Christian church as \u201cthe Way\u201d:&nbsp; Christianity first emerged not as a new religion, but as a reform and sect of Judaism within Judea and the Mediterranean. Wherever Paul, Peter, and other early missionaries traveled, they formed small [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27152"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27152"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27165,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27152\/revisions\/27165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}