Being the Beloved Community

“The beloved community may then finally be described as a gift of the kingdom of God introduced into history by the church, and thus it exists within the provenance of Christ’s mystery in the world.”

-Charles Marsh, The Beloved Community, p 207

Within eyeshot of our beloved worship space at H♥ART Gallery there is a beautiful, red brick church building.  The sign in front of the recently restored old edifice identifies it as THE CHURCH ON MAIN.  But this moniker can be misleading for two main reasons.  First, THE CHURCH ON MAIN is located at the corner of Rossville and Read Avenues, not Main Street.  Second, THE CHURCH ON MAIN isn’t actually a church; it’s a rentable event space.  Now, to be fair, a church is currently renting the venue on Sunday mornings.  And this summer, quite a few couples have decided to rent out the space so that – presumably – they could have the appearance of a Church wedding without actually having to deal with the Church.  But all this raises the question: If THE EVENT SPACE ON ROSSVILLE can proudly call itself a Church without anyone batting an eye, what do you call a building-bereft worshiping community like Southside Abbey?

The question is not whether we are a church or part of the Church.  As a worshiping community of Jesus-followers, of course Southside Abbey is a member of the Body of Christ – (part of the μίαν, ἁγίαν, καθολικὴν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν [One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Assembly]).  The real question is what type of member are we?  What gifts has the Spirit bestowed on us as a community and to what ministry is She calling us in our larger community here in the Southside of Chattanooga?

As our community has been discerning the answer to these questions, we have stumbled on an answer to the initial question of what to call Southside Abbey.  What we have hoped to be, what we are longing to be, what we will strive to be is the local embodiment of the Beloved Community here in our neighborhood and city.  This is a term used by many of our heroes in the faith – most notably, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.  The Rev Dr King spoke of the Beloved Community as that group of Christians and followers-of-Jesus and even those who do not know the Lord, bound together to work and live out the Gospel’s promise and challenge of nonviolent reconciliation and healing.  That’s a tall order, no doubt, but it is surely Southside Abbey’s calling. 

So, by God’s grace and with the help of our friends and neighbors, Southside Abbey will continue to live into our calling as the Beloved Community in Chattanooga’s Southside . . . (and THE EVENT SPACE ON ROSSVILLE can keep the name, THE CHURCH ON MAIN).