hi.
i heard a great message on community yesterday from dave ward. he talked about people being "god's plan a". yes, yes, and yes.
i feel that we need a 'reset' of our understanding of what it means to be a follower of jesus. most evangelical christians have been conditioned to believe that in order to be a follower of christ, one must make an individual, personal decision to do that, and that subsequently one's faith is lived out in a similar framework: how's my devotional life? how's my walk? am i living for the lord? how was my worship experience last sunday? this is also reflected (quite ironically) in many of the songs we sing during community worship which are sung from the first-person singular "I" rather than the plural "we", which would obviously make more sense given the context.
as the next generation of jesus-followers emerges (including those two boys at the top of the page), how can they be taught to perceive community as basic to their identity as a christian? it's comforting to know that many people born after 1966 or so seem to have a natural proclivity toward, and reliance on, community, that it's fundamental to our existence. i'm excited for the church to learn something about community from us!
i think i have a lot to say about this. more later...
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3 comments:
I agree that the focus on community is exciting. Personally, I think one barrier to our girls truly learning this is my hesitancy to "trouble" other members of the body (as suggested in the *perfectly* chosen offertory this past week), especially as it relates to accountability. It's one thing to share sorrows--say a family illness. It's another to reveal my spiritual struggles and ask for support as I muddle through this process called life.
Amen, brother. Amen. Its not about me. Or you, for that matter. But its hard. Its much easier for me to hide than it is to deal with the messiness of relationships. And to be vulnerable to someone? Yikes!
"A rock feels no pain and an island never cries" Simon & Garfunkel
here's my current struggle with community:
can community exist in America's layered and privatized existence of choice? when most of us merely pass one another in the church hallway, is there community (other than the ethereal sense)? or does it need to be something else in order to be real?
i like community. i just don't think we enact it.
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