My story about Father Mulcahy on Sunday got me thinking about the genius behind the hit 1970s TV show, M*A*S*H.
For those who remember the series, the TV show follows a mobile army surgical hospital's adventures during the Korean War in the 1950s. However, coming fresh on the heels of the Vietnam War, M*A*S*H helped the American public process a tumultuous period of pain and heartache.
At its core, M*A*S*H is the story of a community who serves together.
You may recall that the TV series, which was inspired by the novel by Richard Hooker and the motion picture by the same name, introduced us to a host of unusual characters. We meet strait-laced, professional soldiers and their foils, the draftees and enlisted men and women who yearn to be discharged from the Army. They are an idiosyncratic, dissatisfied, irritated, exhausted, and earnest bunch. The common thread that runs throughout their encampment is their willingness to serve others.
The TV show takes on any number of themes and scenarios during its decade-long run. It deals primarily with the horrors of war and uses comedy to address cultural differences and the interplay between fascinating characters. Aw shucks, it's just a good TV show, y'all.
I'm moved, however, by the show's depiction of community. The characters are all forced to live together, work together, eat together, and play together. They are radically different and engage in any number of alliances for both noble causes and mischief. And as we've seen time and time again, the only reason that such a strange assortment of people are brought together in the first place is because of the cause that they hold in common. They are there to serve. Their call is to heal those who are wounded.
I find the M*A*S*H community to be so compelling because of the sense of proximity the characters have to one another. They can be such a high-caliber surgical hospital because they work hand in hand together. Like it or not (and most of the time it's not), the M*A*S*H unit chooses to share their lives with one another. They cry together, fight together, make-up together, laugh together, and find joy in sorrow because they are together.
My point? It's hard to have a shared life with others if we don't share our lives. It's challenging to be a community that isn't in contact with one another. It's impossible to be a community if we don't find a common cause with which to rally.
Just as the Korean War brought skilled caregivers together to serve, and just as the disciples were brought together because of Jesus, we can choose to be a community together in service, in worship, and discipleship.
Or not. We can very well choose to go it alone in life and in our faith journeys.
But that's not what Jesus calls us to do, and our solo narratives would make for terrible TV.
Find an old DVD or stream the show online when you get the chance. See how a bunch of misfits find a way to be a family together. You may find that a shared life of service with others is truly Good News.