Meditation on Community

So,
On the topic at hand, and in light of the funeral this week that you all laughed at me for looking forward to...

The meditation notes on community that I offered last week in a small Episcopal church in Yuma AZ.:


Community; our need for one another


Community is a very sacred word and a very powerful concept and it was everything to this Lady. My grandmother was apart of this community in Yuma, in Business, in society, in media, in radio, in schools, in groups, in organizations, in church and in Her home.

Community is the most basic of needs for all of us. There is an ever-present battle within us to fight our need for one another; we are tought by every mean, to tolerate, coexist and remain independent, self absorbed and self-sufficient.


Sociology may tell us groups just aimlessly happen. Psychology may tell us people find groups. Science may tell us that homogeneity is tantamount. Philosophy may tell us our identity is in pieces. The government may tell us to keep to ourselves

The sinful nature tells us to be addicted and shackled by our own desire God tells us: we need each other: for both proactive into the good and reactive out of the bad.

From Adam on, the first thing God said is not good? For man to be alone.

One community:
We are called to costly community while
Comfort and affinity call us numbing uniformity.

Christ called us to diversity: His disciples...
A zealot and a tax-man
A rebel and a fed.

Acts 2:42-47
Acts 4: 32-37


Ellen, Gamma Wheeler led a life of community that was as colorfully diverse as her many hats and her cloths and her interests and her friends.

Her Legacy:
Her legacy of community is profound. Her collection of friends in the garden of her life is vast. Her breadth of influence and mosaic of loves was a testimony to a heart that was actively and violently being emptied for others.

May we all strive as she did in so many ways to be more Christ-like in that way. For the joy of His bride, the church, His community. Her actions are an avalanche of community and love far louder than spoken, preached, or whispered words.

And so I ask
Will we be a catalyst? Will we be intentional in our circles? Will each of us chose against ourselves, in order to come closer together?

You will find community somewhere. Will it be one that matters and will you help it matter more? What we do becomes who we are. May we be vulnerable and raw, continually seeking to keep the body healthy

You cannot love God without loving those around you. If we can’t love others that we do see then how can we love god who we cannot? .

Does your community matter?
Does your community look like heaven? That's what my Gamma wanted, and that's what makes her smile today.

We need to learn to deny our lust for self-sufficiency and celebrate our need for the body.
We were given two very specific gifts:

The Holy Spirit to be in us
And the body of Christ, which is the church community

No one likes a stubbed tow or a broken finger, and we cannot put up with this body we have. It has cancer and pneumonia. It is letting disease spread faithless religion and it is not breathing in the good things it needs to grow.


Community was everything to her

And may it be for us as well.


One Another's:
Eph: 4 be kind, compassionate to...
Colossians: 3 forgive...
1peter: submit to...
James 4: do not slander...
1 Thessalonians: encourage...
Romans 12: live in harmony with
1 John: if we love then His love lives complete.