Community

I love people! Enjoying a cup of coffee and talking about life with someone is one of my favorite things to do. I have been known to spend hours visiting with someone I’m just meeting for the first time. This is one reason why I loved doing campus ministry. Great ministry happens with college students while you are hanging out at the campus coffee house. I love to do my office work at a coffeehouse because there are people there, and you can talk to them. People are awesome!

People annoy me! I go grocery shopping and Cranky Carla is yelling at the sweet lady in front of her with two crying kids to move faster through the check out line. I watch Speedy Sam cut someone off on the highway and then honk and flash his favorite finger out the window. We have become a culture that worships instant gratification and demands things to be done our way in our time frame. Everything else is an inconvenience…including other people.

I confess that I love and hate people. How can that be? It’s simple. Community is hard, very hard. We were created to be in community with God and with others. Our souls, our body, our minds crave it. (This includes introverts!!) Numerous studies have proved this. However, for some reason very few of us are willing to put in the hard work that is required to experience genuine community. Real community doesn’t run away when it gets hard. It sticks together and fights to stay together. Real community doesn’t sit on the sidelines. It runs to the field working and playing hard. Real community doesn’t take the wide, paved road. It takes the narrow, rocky path and makes sure everyone survives the journey. NO MATTER WHAT!

When Jesus calls his disciples, he calls them to live in community. It is part of the call. For three years these guys did everything together. You can’t tell me that they always got along perfectly. But they were committed to Jesus, which meant being committed to each other. If we are going to be disciples of Jesus we have to practice community. It isn’t an option. It isn’t up for debate. But it doesn’t happen magically on its own. You have to do some work and be intentional about building relationships.

I want to offer this challenge: to intentionally seek community this month. Last month I talked about disciples being committed to the Text. Jump into a one of the new Adult Bible Classes starting and practice community while studying together. If you are already attending a class, find time to share a meal with a family in the church. Let’s not be a church family that picks and chooses what parts of discipleship we are going to obey. Let’s be a church family that is following in the steps of our rabbi. Who’s with me?