Community. \kə-ˈmyü-nə-tē\

This past year, the Lord has really opened my eyes to the value of being in community. He has informed me, taught me, stretched me, challenged me, and surrounded me with people. It's been good, yet overwhelming. I have come to this point where I have a very strong desire to live in community and also to live more simply (I'm not there). At one point this summer, I said to my best friend when sitting on a plane next me, that I just want to live in this house with people who deeply desire the same thing as I do and to live the same way as I do. She spoke some truth to me. Wouldn't life be great, if that was the case? But really- Christ calls us to live in community with people who aren't exactly like us and don't desire the same as us... Duh! That's why life is supposed to be uncomfortable and challenging because we were all made and wired so differently- BUT we were ALL made in the image of God- who is in community with Father, Son & Holy Spirit. 

Right now, I find myself intertwined with many different communities. I have community at work, but even that branches in many directions because I work at 7 different schools, and also meet with other therapists. I have community in my neighborhood. I'm writing this after spending the evening at my block's progressive holiday party. I have community among friends in women's bible study, and I have a newly formed community with a house church in my neighborhood that I have started going to. Not to mention, I have communities in other areas (i.e. my family in Illinois, my college friends, my high school friends, my grad school/fort collins friends). I enjoy all groups and learn from each of them. But I find myself wondering if I'm spread too thin, and if we're meant to have community in this tight-knit, intimate, intentional way. I don't know the answer. I think it would be great if I lived in the neighborhood that I worked in. And went to church in the neighborhood I lived in (I do that now, but not all of us live in that neighborhood). And studied the bible and shared meals with my next door neighbors and prayed for their most difficult struggles. And served the poor in the direct community I lived in with my immediate neighbors. 

I wonder too if I'm supposed to be spreading the love of Christ in many different places (like a mustard seed, perhaps). Jesus' ministry wasn't just in one neighborhood. Yet, I do feel one can be more effective and bear more fruit if time and energy was invested in one area.

I think my desires relate more to getting a glimpse of heaven here on Earth. As Christians, we can very much make an impact and move in this direction. We can't do it alone (hence the community piece). 

Merriam-Webster has some definitions of community that I find interesting: 1) a unified body of individuals- I like this one! 2) people with common interests living in a particular area - I agree we need common interests, but we also need differences and to have a myriad of gifts to bring to the group. 3) society at large - hmmm. Certainly not in America (my opinion). 4) A joint ownership or participation - I like the word participation in this definition. It's nice to be apart of a community because that sense of belonging is fulfilled- But the community can not be effective without active participation!

Nancy Ortberg writes in her book Looking for God, "Community is one of the most powerful concepts in the Bible. Genesis begins with it and Revelations closes with it." She goes on to say, "Community is where we learn the truth about ourselves, where we are deeply loved, where walls are broken down, and where people who are usually excluded are included." I love this definition. Think about how different our world would be if we were INCLUSIVE people. If we automatically flocked to people who were different than us and made us feel uncomfortable. I think our communities would look a lot like Jesus' ministry. In this chapter, Nancy Ortberg talks about using the pronoun, we. In using, we, it moves the focus off of ourselves and onto the bigger picture of others. It's a powerful thing to make our understanding of community parallel with what God's vision of community is. His Kingdom is vast and inclusive. It represents people from all walks of life. It's a huge party, that we will one day experience -- OR we could choose to experience it now, here on Earth.

I'm excited to see where the Lord takes me on this journey, but I'm more excited to journey with people, learn from them, be challenged by them, serve with them, love with them, struggle with them, and celebrate with them!