Today I’m participating in a blog carnival about “Community” started by Bridget Chumbley and Peter Pollock. This time it’s hosted by Bridget as well. Go check out all the great entries here!
Community has many connotations and applies to many different things. It seems that where we should feel a sense of community the most and often don’t is our churches. Many certainly do, but others definitely don’t. The gulf between the two seems to be very wide. Why is this?
Community is hard. It’s messy, time-consuming, people get hurt, it's hardly ever convenient…yet God calls us to express true community as the body of Christ.
In fact, I would leap into the fray and state as I do in the title of this post and say community is impossible. I’m not talking about a club or simply a cause where we do our time, enjoy the friendship, and go our separate ways. I’m talking about the Church, made up of living stones, all parts of one body. That type of community takes copious amounts of supernatural grace.
When a stone building is not in use do all the stones disassemble until it’s time to come together again? Do your arms and legs and vital organs go to their apartments, homes, or townhouses until they are needed?Let me answer my own rhetorical question: NO! A stone by itself is not functioning until it is placed by the builder in its proper position. A kidney, liver, arm, or eye by itself will not survive—it has to be connected to the other parts of the body to live and be useful.
Community is hard because selfishness is easy.
Thankfully, if we’ve given our hearts to Jesus to fill, surrendering all to Him, He leads us and takes us from glory to glory. If we are living for Him, we will have to join, connect, and grow with the body of believers. This means a loss of pride, control, self-centeredness while we lay down fear, sin, and judgment.
“…there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” (1 Cor. 12:25-26)
Why go through it if it’s so hard? How do we do it if it’s impossible? With man it’s not possible, but nothing is impossible with God. Community is nothing less than a miracle.
When this facet of God is operational, it changes everything. We each can live out our purpose and destiny. We surround one another and fight together. We find healing. We care for the wounded. We cheer each other on. We lean on each other’s strengths and cover each other’s weaknesses.
Even as I say what we are intended to do and be, I know the Church as a whole has fallen woefully short. This doesn’t change what God has set into motion (and consequently will be faithful to complete). The only question is whether or not we will be a fully-functioning part.
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