Community isn't always comfortable. (No revelation there!) But discomfort is what pushes us to grow up. Community is where we expect our congregation, our clients, our care receivers, and our family members to become more like Jesus. In that respect, community is an important and precious gift.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer describes community truths in his seminal book, Life Together. He begins by exhorting the reader to treasure community as a
"gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed. Therefore, let him who until now has had the privilege of living a common Christian life with other Christians praise God's grace from the bottom of his heart."
community is a privilege . . . a gift of grace . . . a praise . . .-- sometimes my experience, sometimes not so much
(At this point, we could do a word study on the words grace, gift and koinonia, but that's done so gloriously in other books. By the way, have you read Ann Voskamp's 1,000 Gifts?)
While searching for a title to this blog, I sought for words to express what I seek from this grace-gift called community and what I believe God desires for all in community. I found something quite interesting in the Latin definition of community. Below is a copy and paste from WordIQ.com (a simple shortcut, but it delivered)!
The origin of the word community comes from the Latin munus, which means the gift, and cum, which means together, among each other. Community literally means to give among each other. Community could be defined as a group of people who share gifts which they provide to all.
Thus, I embraced the title community gifts as an expression of the place where gifts from our community can be shared within the gift we have of being in community.
Bonhoeffer also exclaims:
"Let him thank God on his knees and declare: It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community with Christian brethren."
(I would humbly add it is grace to live among all peoples, and Bonhoeffer is quick to note from this same chapter quoted above, Luther's admonition that we'd rather sit mong roses and lilies, the "devout" people, than those who are unbelievers.)
I am thankful that God has graced us with each other and saddened by the many miles between us. For those of you that journey to Ashland for training in the ministry of caregiving, you know what I mean. We've fellowshipped, studied, prayed and experienced the presence of the Lord together with pastors from Nebraska, women's ministers in Uganda, full-time Spanish missionaries, spiritual directors in Florida-- the list of far away places is long. For many of us, family members are spread across the globe and friends are choosing to live in countries other than our own. So yes to Dietrich, it is nothing but grace that we are allowed to be together!
Deuteronomy 18:25 reminds us that we are scattered like seed "into all the kingdoms of the earth." My hope is to gather up a handful of that seed into this one "blog basket" and share our gifts of ministry among each other through a variety of posts. Whether your focus is full-time ministry, lay counseling, raising a family, professional counseling, healing prayer, or mentoring, I encourage you to get involved in sharing your gifts with one another. Here are some examples to get you started:
Ask specific questions about how to minister in your current community. You've heard it said over and over, there are no stupid questions.
Reflect upon the blog posted. Do you agree, disagree, or have had similar experiences?
Share victories of positioning people to experience Jesus in their emotional upheaval.
Give helpful administrative hints regarding your caregiving ministry in your context.
Offer your creative ideas on mentoring someone on their journey.
Explore difficult areas for you in the ministry of healing and formational prayer.
Bonhoeffer offers:
"The Christian in exile is . . . strengthened by a letter written by the hand of a Christian. The greetings in the letters written with Paul's own hand were doubtless tokens of such community."
Looking forward to your "letters" and the forming of this new community.
donna
I don't just feel blessed to be in community; I thrive in community. I recognize the value in the loneliness that God will sometimes allow us to experience, and the growth and healing that occur when you must rely solely on Jesus to carry you in those times. But it has been those seasons when I have been enmeshed in a group of believers that I have felt the most comforted and cared for, the most useful, energized, and the most used by God. I won't limit this to groups of believers, though, because any group of people can provide the opportunity to grow, dialog, and use our gifts and personalities to build others up and meet needs.
ReplyDeleteThere seem to be some misinterpretations of what community really is, or maybe a lack in recognizing the need. What I think of as true community happens on its own without programming or advertising. It may be in response to a tragedy or natural disaster, may be the result of common needs in an isolated area, or may grow out of shared interests and friendship.
There are groups of people who may think they are in community but are neither giving nor receiving what they could and thus are not experiencing the blessings available to them. I think first of Facebook and the security it is no doubt providing for many individuals who have somehow felt disconnected from others. The technology available in communication allows us to know all kinds of things about others and to let them know about us in a fairly risk-free environment emotionally. After all, when I post on Facebook or send an email or text, no one can see my smile or my tears. But this is a far cry from really knowing or being known by others - the kind of closeness that results from a bit of vulnerability in true community.
Another questionable "community" in my mind is the individual church body or even small groups which are so popular right now. It's been my experience to this point that those who have freely given and likewise received from a safe group have in the future sought out similar groups in hopes of experiencing the same. But there are those in the church that have never known this type of community and thus do not see the need to pursue it. It is for them I want to provide an avenue to experience this.
While we cannot force others to participate in community even if they are present physically, it may just be that a taste of community gets them hungering for more...
Yes, it seems there are both artificial and authentic communities. And there are certain friends that have this essence about them that have a natural (or supernatural?) way of drawing people to them. And- that makes me want to be a part of their communities. Sara, you are one of those people. It might be interesting to hear from everyone, what makes an authetic community?
ReplyDeleteFrom Jeff Franks
ReplyDeleteI think the hardest part about community is catching the moment when it first occurs. We are surrounded by many opportunities for community but often do not see them. My thought goes to the garden we put out last year. The hardest work was in the beginning. As the sprouts came up, the weeds came up with them. The growth was there, but the challenge was to intentionally nurture that growth amongst all the other growth. In some areas of the garden we were successful and it got easier to nurture the plants as they got bigger. On the other hand, the carrots didn't do so well. The reason was that when they were coming up, we didn't get the weeds, so everything grew together. They ended up getting choked out.
I guess what I'm getting at is that there have been times when relationships and fellowship have sprouted, and I have intentionally nurtured them. The byproduct was community (a great fruit). But on the other hand, there have been opportunities with the potential for community that I didn't nurture. The byproduct was that the moment and opportunity slowly passed (it got choked out).
Sent via email from Jeff.
As Christians we affirm that it is the Holy Spirit who calls the church together and thus establishes Community among the believers. When we affirm that we "believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church" we attest to the presence of a community that transcends time and distance. The Community of the Holy Spirit does not come into existence when we gather together and dissipate into nonexistence when we disperse; it is always in existence, in all times and in all places. So whether I rejoin the community of the Holy Spirit on a weekly basis in a time and place called a worship service at Christ the King Lutheran Church, on a sort of regular basis in a time and a place called a Formational Prayer Seminar; or whether it's been a long time since I've been in the physical presence of brothers and sisters in Christ in India, California, Florida, New York, or just Ohio, the Community of the Holy Spirit is always there. Like the Presence of God which is never absent from His children (it is only our awareness of His Presence that is absent), we are never absent of the Community of the Holy Spirit even though we are more aware of it at some times than at others.
ReplyDelete