Considering Community

          What does community mean to you?

          A few things come to mind when I hear that word. First is the place where I live, where home is. This community is made up of the people who live around you. In this community, we can find lifelong friends whom we share memories with over the years. It can also be a place where we least know those people that are around us. For some, there is a disconnect in this type of community. In this type of community, we often work to keep up a façade that everything is ok. However, within the walls of your home things are anything but ok.

          Church is another place that I associate with community. Now for some that same connection is made, however, it might stir up several different feelings. Some of us think of our church community as friends and family. They celebrate with us and at times they mourn or grieve with us. For others, the church community is one that has hurt or abandoned us. In both cases, often, the connection we make in our church community can run deep.

           For Christ-followers, the idea of community is more than just those who are around us in church or church events. It is also more than the place we live or may call home. Our community becomes anyone we might have an interaction with. In Luke 10, Jesus challenges the expert in the law, to rethink the idea of who is his neighbor or who is a part of his community and whom he might need to begin to care for and show compassion to.

            The reality is that our community is not just in one place or with one group of people. It can’t be if we are going to hear the words of Jesus and see everyone we interact with as our neighbor. If they are our neighbors, and a part of our community, we must begin to see them that way. We must begin to care for, show compassion to, and love those in our communities, our neighbors, through all seasons and all areas of life.

           Who is part of your community?

Pastor Josh