It’s all about … Christian community ... twenty one things and the list is growing …

I’ve spent 27 of my 56 years in community – with a seven year gap in the middle when I lived on my own .. that’s plenty of time to reflect, both from the inside and outside as to what, actually it is all about.. and I’ve certainly not got to the bottom of it yet!

Let’s say, it’s not about four walls, neat systems, nor even about the bank account we all share or the meals we have together. Community is something ‘of the heart.’ My observation is, it’s quite possible to live ‘in community’ and not live in community at all. It is also possible to not reside in the four walls of a community setting and have a great ‘community heart.’

Community is primarily about relationships, both with one another and, of course, most important, with God. 


So, here goes .... I think ...

1.    It’s about looking out for each other and meeting a need, whether it’s peeling carrots or bringing an encouraging word, lending a listening ear or looking after someone else’s kids for a while.

2.    It’s about, figuratively speaking, slowing down, pulling over onto the hard shoulder and stopping to give time for a five minute chat … even when there is no time (we think.)

3.    It’s about learning what makes others tick and understanding their sensitivities and being considerate.

4.    It’s about saying sorry, remembering sometimes the most well-meaning intentions seem to backfire (yes, I know about that ..)

5.    It's about making space for others, about not over-leading; it’s about not making people feel small when we know more.

6.    It’s about working as a unit, about giving way, putting others before ourselves, about being happy not to be the king-pin.

7.    It’s about seeing others do well when we’re not doing so well and rejoicing; it’s acknowledging that others are much better at some things than we are and being very happy in that (remember we’ve been brought up in a culture when it’s always best to be tops at everything.)

8.    It’s about being read to before you go to bed – Penelope Wilcock or CS Lewis (a luxury I enjoy)

9.     It’s about being known, it’s sharing the deepest fears with someone and not being afraid.

10.    It’s about having a hug when you most need it; it’s giving out when you feel, well, just needy yourself …

11.    It’s about thinking of the most positive things you can about a person when they are really getting on your nerves and you’re not sure you like them very much.

12.    It’s about enjoying each other, a muddy walk, a game of scrabble, a deep heart share. 

13.    It’s about ‘gardening’, relationships tended, weeded, watered, day after day.

14.    It’s about saying thank you and not taking others’ servant-heartedness for granted. It’s about being grateful for others while we still have them. It’s being thankful to God too…

15.    It’s about being a circle - no corners – embracing, holding everyone in our hearts. The aim of community is impartial love. Help!

16.    At its best, it’s about stepping over the garden wall, figuratively speaking again, and sitting in another’s heart, to listen, to share or even sit in silence. It’s the nearest thing to heaven on earth … if it’s IN our hearts.

17.    Hey, I’m going on … it’s about walking hand in hand with God and seeing one another from His perspective; it’s praying, longing over each other. 

18.    Yes, it’s about Jesus, it’s all for Him and it’s finding His heart, His mind, His everything in everything we do … help again! This is getting deep..

19.    … And yes, too, it’s about the grief of parting, whether in death or just when God calls us on … it’s about giving, loving and then letting go..

20.    It’s about journeying, learning, a voyage of discovery and that’s not going to end in this life which brings me on to the finally …(for the time being anyway)

21.    It’s about eternity because community here, on earth, is just the very, very beginning of it all .. and very imperfect, as we all know … eternity will be community, sharing in the wonderful unity of the Godhead, the perfect bonding of like-hearts .. eternal bliss …. and I guess we will relish, relish, relish all the amazing, sometimes painfully-birthed, friendships we forged on earth. Heaven will be - community.

                                       Enough said for now