Truth has nothing to do with it, but understanding and comprehension speaks volume. We have more than one community. Sometimes they cross over, and the lines blend, merge and separate. Just like our lives are lived.
My neighborhood is a community, but those that border my property are the main ones we depend on – except for a couple of special people further down the road.
Do you have a church? No matter the size, that’s a community. But within its framework, many sub-communities bring you closer to the main focus of your life. The KJV makes use of “congregation” that other translations migrate forward with the word “community.”
Communities are defined by age, gender, family size, financial needs, or even race and ethnicity diversity.
Separate from the blood relatives of life,
we create community as our lives adapt to the years we live.
Though communities come and go, you can end up with the main circle of your life and who you allow to be a part, or connected by common interest. I have a community with my God that only disbands if I choose to make it so.
When I was young, community was not a big word. “Family” was the main theme: Family of Scouting, Little League, Church, Neigborhood, etc.
Today, the word in vogue is Community.
Who Defines Community?
The problem with the breakout of a word that’s in vogue is that others define it’s final usage.
There is a story of a community of like minded people who were trying to make a foundational rule on what the group believed. As each presented a side, someone would stand up and say, “I don’t believe that!” Snip! Parse! Cut! Someone is excluded from the group. By the end of the meeting, there were only two left standing in the community. One said, “I know I’m right, but I’m not so sure about you!”
Isn’t this how we define politics? There are ultra, conservative, and middle of the road sides to any party, and are there not two main parties? If you’re not happy with either party, then you become independent, or start a new party. Eventually, as with language, your voting tabulation splits the nation into more parties than you can shake a stick at.
Suddenly, community is broken and we become small fiefdoms within the nation. Wait. Hasn’t that happened already?
My Community
Jesus was busy teaching and his family came to see him. What would you do? He’s been teaching about honoring your mother and father, because that is part of the Ten Commandments. But Jesus uses this as an example of expanding the community of family.
Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”
But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?”
And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said,
“Here are My mother and My brothers!
For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”
(Mark 3:31-35 NKJV)
The church was settling on its foundation in the first couple of chapters of the “Acts of the Apostles.” As the new community is gelling, some new features included selling all and distributing as the community had need. After it’s beginning and the resulting action of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, we no longer hear this taught. But at the inception, it was the thing to do.
Why? It was your community
I believe today’s life would be deeply misunderstood by those who lived 100 years ago, or even 1000 years, or even at the time of Christ. But the concept of humanity making good and bad choices will always be comprehended.
Woodie Guthrie wrote, sang and recorded a song he titled, “This Land Is Your Land.” When you read the words and you share it with your neighbor, you just made a community. Spread the vision outward and getting everyone singing it, then your new found community is sharing the blessing of God on this land we all call come. (Click here to hear Woody Guthrie sing on YouTube)
Maybe We Need to Change
I’ve heard of some churches, groups, clubs, and the such, who control who has access to their community. In fact, one church I know of doesn’t want you to show up unless you fit the “die” of their cut of the cloth. In other words, to even visit their community you need to look the part before you even show up! What??!!
Perhaps our largest community needs to center around our Love for Humanity. Ask yourself this question and let it provoke some deep thinking.
If God is Love, and we profess to be Godly, why don’t we exemplify the same Love?
We are fickle personalities! This is a lesson I keep telling myself everything I think something negative about one community or another, this person or that person. If repetition is the key to learning, then it’s okay to keep telling yourself to have a better frame of reference when you deal with other “communities.” \
God didn’t start loving you when you got your act together.
God doesn’t stop loving you when you fall apart at the seams.
God doesn’t love you because of your track record.
He simply loves you.
~Ian Simkins