The Community of the Way

People who are living by the Spirit of the designer build a community. If a person lives by the spirit, he or she does good to others as the Spirit of the Designer always wills. As he or she does, those, who recognize his or her goodness, love him or her. Then they would build a relationship. They encourage each other to do good to each other and to others as they recognize the value of it. In this way, the community is established through the Spirit. The members of the community develop a special relationship, based on the Spirit of the Designer and doing good to each other and to others.

The members of the community, therefore, are those, who live by the Spirit of the Designer. So the model for their lives is the Way. It is because it is the Way’s life that the Spirit leads them to; the Spirit leads them to live as the Way lived in his body. Therefore, the Way, even if he is not here in body among them, is the ‘head’ of the community: His life, examples, and teachings are the guide and instruction for them; on top of that, the Way, as if he were here among them, leads them through the spirit. As he would if he were here among them in body, he is the spiritual leader of the community.

As the Spirit of the Designer, by which the members of the community are living, leads them to live the life of the Way, they do what the Way would do if he were here in body. The community, however, does greater, better, and more works than even the sum of the works of all the individual members. It is because the community is like the body of the head, the Way, that accomplishes the work of the Way. So the community founded on the Spirit of the Designer accomplishes the will of the Designer abundantly. Therefore, the community is not just a natural thing but a necessary thing for the Way to continue his mission; the Way established it, his body, through the Spirit. So the community is called the church of the Way.

The fact that the church is the body of the Way gives us an idea of the requirement on the members of it. As mentioned earlier, they are those who follow the head, do the will of the Spirit, and do good to others. Among the good works that they have to do, for them to do good to each other is the foundation for the church. In other words, loving each other is the foundation of the community.

The church, as mentioned earlier, is not just a gathering of the individual members; it is more than that. It has to be different from any other community of people. It has to have something that makes it different from all other kinds. Nothing can be that thing other than loving each other. The deviated humans cannot love others purely because they do not have right view of their life, and others’ and other creatures. Only people who live by the Spirit of the Designer can do good truly to others. Therefore, only the members of the community of the Way can love each other so purely and truly. If I say the way around, if there is not such love of one another, it is not so different from other human gatherings. So love of one another is the only thing that distinguishes the church of the Way from other communities.

Only the community founded on love of one another can be the body of the Way. For a community to be the body of the Way, first it has to follow the head, the Way. Then, the members of it will be joined and intertwined one another so that any part of it cannot be separated by anything. All parts comprise one body that way. Any part of the body cannot be separated without pain. If any part can be separated easily, it is not unified as one body. Love of one another unifies all parts into one body. So, the unity is essential for a body. Only love of one another unifies the members to transform them into a body, the community. By the unification through love of one another, the Way, the head, and the community, the body, make a whole person. Therefore, the love of one another is the essential and distinct feature of the church of the Way.

Love of one another of the members of the church is not just the sum of love of members of each other. It is like the work of the community is not just the arithmetic sum of the works of all the individual members. The love has to be like the work of the community; it has to be more than the sum total of love of the individuals. Love has to be unified like the work does. It has to be connected with each other that any part of it cannot be separated or removed without pain. For love of the members to be unified, there have to be two things: the right motive of love and the full degree of love.

One could love others for many reasons. If the reason for love is in the one who is loved, the love could be changed and reduced to nothing. A selfish love could be this kind. Even if such love is better than not-loving, the love the members have to have to each other should be higher than that. The motive of love of one another has to be the love of the Designer, the Origin of all things, including all human beings. If a member loves the Designer, he or she loves the other members because the Designer loves them. This motive makes one love another with no condition that may be in the one whom he or she may love. Not only that, the love from this motive connects all members in the Designer.

One could love others by one or some more ways—but by not all ways available. This can happen as the love in the church is understood and taken as merely an action or fulfilling obligations. The degree or depth of such love is not sufficient to make the community the body of the Way. The love, instead, has to be a holistic one. One has to love by all means and in any way that are available to him or her. It should be outpouring of heart of the person for the others. In other words, it has to be from the bottom of heart and with all heart. Such love is spiritual love. Love, to be right one in the church, has to reach the degree that it is the spirit of the person. If one has a spirit, as he or she lives according to the spirit, if one’s sprit is love, his or her life will be full of love—there will be no shadow in him or her with regard to love. Such love connects the all members not only to each other but also to the Way, the head, because he is the Spirit of love. This love makes the church the body of the Way.

As love unifies the members of the church into the body of the Way, it results in some features. It always unifies but never splits the church. It is like our hand does not cut the legs or gouge out the eyes. Any member of the body does not cut any other member. It is because of the pain that our brain feels. However small member it may be, when a member of our body is cut, it is painful. Therefore, any member of the church does not cut out any other member. It is because if a member is cut, the head, the Way hurts. For this reason, true love among the members of the church does never make split.

Not only that, a member who loves the church truly never leaves or forsakes it. It is like any member of our body does not cut itself from the body. As the brain feels the pain if a member cuts another member, if a member separates itself from the body the brain feels the pain. Like that it hurts the Way if a member separates him or herself from the church. Therefore, a member who truly loves the church never separates him or herself from it.

Love endures. As a human body, a member of the church could get sick spiritually. As we endure as a member of our body gets sick, the members of the church have to be patient with the sick member. Enduring does not mean just staying calm but it also means trying best to cure sickness off. As a member or some members of the church get sick, the church as a whole endures the sickness and pain from it and tries best to cure it off. Enduring and curing do not mean, as mentioned earlier, to cut off the sick members. It is not true love. True love tries best to cure the sick members. True love never forsake them.