When I was working on my Master’s
degree, I took a theology course. Our main text was written by Stanley Grenz
who sees all of theology through the “lens” of community. One of my fellow
students, Kim, was so sick of hearing about community by the end of that course
that she could barely stomach it. Needless to say she wasn’t a big fan of
Grenz. I rather liked his take on theology and although community is not the primary
factor that shapes my theology, it's probably in my top five. Kim and I are still
good friends even though we don’t agree about Grenz, but that’s probably
because I believe in community so much.
I’ve been thinking about community
a lot lately. I think it was a key ingredient in the early church. I think for
the most part it’s a missing ingredient in the 21st Century church…but
I don’t think it should be. The problem is that it takes time and effort to
build community and I have a sneakin’ suspicion it also takes some work by the
Holy Spirit. There’s a difference between a community and a village. A few
years ago former First Lady, Hillary Clinton wrote a book entitled, “It Takes A
Village.” It was a nice thought but the truth is it takes more than a village. You
see, a village is a group of people who live in the same geographic location. They can still be disjointed, disconnected and dysfunctional and still be a
village. A community is a group of people linked together not so much by
geography as by heart, soul, vision and purpose. What I think it “takes” is a
community.
Here’s the problem: I think the
church lives a lot more like a village than a community. We are bound by
geography (same church building) but many times are still disjointed,
disconnected and dysfunctional. We ought to live in community, united by heart,
soul, vision and purpose. That doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time,
discovery, assessment and intentionality to become a community. Sometimes
people come to the realization during that process that although they are
linked by geography they are not part of the heart and soul of the community.
They may choose to move on to a place where they can be part of the community.
We grieve over the loss but I think we probably should celebrate. I don’t
intend for that to sound mean but I know some will take it that way. Shouldn’t
we all want each other to be where we can be a part of community? That’s a good
thing, right?
I get so excited when I see
community begin to happen. As I write this blog, we have three people in our
church building right now who are cleaning restrooms, vacuuming and mopping
floors. They volunteered to do that this week because it was needed for the
greater good of our faith community. A few minutes ago I got a call from a
woman who lives in our neighborhood. She needed a ride to a woman’s shelter
tonight for a meeting for abused women. I texted someone in our community and
they agreed to give her a ride…no questions asked. Last week Jane and I visited
a couple in our church family where the husband is recovering from major
surgery. Some limbs needed to be trimmed because they were damaging their roof.
I passed the information along to a man in our faith community who said he’d
take care of it…no cost. Over and over, every week, I see community beginning
to happen more and more in our church family. Although some will never
understand this statement I have to say it anyway: We are never more spiritual
than when we are living out a loving community as a testimony of what Christ
has done in us.
How about you? Are you living in a
village or a community?
