community is still basic

hi.


to paraphrase, uh...something else i've heard before, seven days of not blogging makes one weak. i apologize to the tens of thousands of you all that have had to endure the stagnancy of eyesuppose of late.

i was talking with a college-age friend of mine recently, and she expressed some things that made me realize that there are many of us that feel like we (a) can't and (b) shouldn't have to depend or lean heavily upon others in times of physical, emotional, and spiritual need, and that it's a sign of weakness to do so.

to quote john keating: excrement.

i had similar thoughts when i was in college. going "away" to school caused me to consider the need to make my relationship with god "my own" rather than just My Parents' Faith 2.0. this is valuable in many ways, often even if it means completely abandoning one's journey with god and eventually coming back to a more authentic expression of faith that perhaps looks nothing like our parents'.

those four years at gordon college were fundamental in my spiritual formation. being in an intensely christian environment has its dangers and drawbacks, but the friendships i formed (not to mention that hot chick that i met my senior year) were crucial as i grew in faith and in the knowledge of the lord. but as you get out into the "real world", we were told, you've got to find a way to maintain your christianity (which usually meant espousing the right morality in the face of this immoral culture). now that you are no longer going to be in a solely christian environment, hopefully you will be strong enough and wise enough to survive on your own.

excrement.

not only should we lean and depend on each other, we really can't not do that and expect to have a viable faith that truly reflects god's heart, which is inherently communal. the church is not a cadre of individual pods (a visual from number 13 comes to mind), but a true community formed by god for his purpose. this is true in our times of communal worship as well. as i asserted in my last post about this subject, our worship is far too often expressed inside our "me-and-god" pods when we show up sunday morning.

i've been talking with people about how our church community can have a more relational, "horizontal" experience when we come together on sunday morning. our space is set-up in a manner that would make that a challenge, what with the chairs all facing the action coming from the big lit stage and all. there have been some special times of interaction through small-group prayer or an extended greeting time or breaking up into groups to discuss a topic for a few moments. another way this has been accomplished is through having people share a tidbit about what's going on in their lives, how they are living out his mission in their worlds, or how the grace and love of god and his community have carried them through pain and struggle.

my friend keith, one of the wiser men ever, illustrated this in the example of a song that dorinda holley sang in church a year or two ago. while it sounded beautiful on its own, the song was made even more meaningful by the fact that he knew what tough things were going on in her life during that time. in this way he (and others with whom she was in community) was able to come alongside her and praise god and lament with her in her pain.

excellent.