Community is More than Attendance

D'you know how you sometimes just "stumble" over a blog post that sets your mind off to thinking?  It happened to me this morning while reading BLD in MT:

Matt and I are ever so grateful to have found the community of gardeners that we have found there.  The main leader of the group always stresses that point.  That we are a community of gardeners, not just a community garden. (Bold characters are my addition.)  I like that sentiment.  A sense of community, of belonging, is so often lacking these days, I've found.   I've learned so much from these people about gardening, cleaning, chickens, Iowa, cooking, moon signs, and so on.  I've shared many laughs and even a few sorrows with them.  We've worked together for a common good.  I expected to love the gardening aspect.  I didn't expect to love the community.  In fact, despite the name, I don't think I expected much of a community at all.

To help foster the community feeling we all participate in raising crops on the common ground to donate to the need in our area (over 3,000 pounds this year).  We also have group work days and harvest days.  And just as important, we also have community celebrations such as the Summer Picnic and Harvest Dinner.  Everyone brings a favorite dish to share.  The church that hosts the garden provides cutlery and tables and usually the main protein piece of the meal (burgers at the picnic, ham at the Harvest Dinner).  And everyone visits and eats and gets to know each other.  It is absolutely wonderful. 

She was writing about her GARDENING experiences.  I was thinking of my yearnings for such a community of FAITH.  A place described by some of the phrases I lifted straight from this post! 
  • A leader who stresses the importance of "community"
  • Gratefulness for FINDING such a community
  • Belonging IS so often lacking these days
  • Learned so much from these people
  • Shared laughs and sorrows
  • Worked together for a common good
  • (Sometimes) we don't "expect" much of a community
  • Activities to foster community
  • Joint participation in serving the needy 
  • Community celebrations
  • Work days
  • Food!  
  • EVERYONE visits and eats and gets to know each other
  • It is "absolutely wonderful"!
I'm thankful for the measure of "community" that I'm finding in our small church. 
But I'm not satisfied!  
There is progress to be made. 
Community is SO much more than "attendance".
 I pray for that.  I LONG for that...
To be a community of Christians (Christ-followers)
not just a Christian community.

"All the believers were one in heart and mind.  No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.  With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them that there were no needy persons among them.  For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need." (Acts 4:32-35)

16 comments:

  1. Oh Rebecca, you really gleaned an important point from BLD's post. Boy!! I agree with you 100% community is important. Community is such an elusive thing, we can come together, we can meet, we can belong for a long time, but do we have community??? Very often the answer is not really, rather we have a coming together but not much more. To have a sense of community it takes everyone giving of themselves and then openly accepting what each gives of them self. Does that make sense??
    Anyway, community is one of those things that when you have it you KNOW that you have it :)

    Thank you for giving such a good insight to the BLD post.

    Blessings to you,

    Bean

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    1. Yep! You expressed it well - "it takes everyone giving of themselves and then openly accepting what each gives of them self". And "when you have it you NOW that you have it"!

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  2. Being a novice gardener and a baby christian, this spoke volumns to my heart!
    While you know when you truely belong to a community you also know when you don't. Finally, at our new church, I know what a community of faithful believers feels like!
    Thanks for sharing on fb Rebecca. It's the only way I can access any blogs. And there are a few I really miss reading every day.

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    1. I'm so happy for you, Vicki! Dive in wholeheartedly to that wonderful community!

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  3. What beautiful thoughts you have shared here, Rebecca. Yes, community is more than just mere attendance. Thank you for sharing the excerpt from BLD's post, and then sharing what is on your heart. Community is all about sharing, giving... and yes, the willingness to receive what the other has to offer. Just like in the early church. That's how the Lord wanted it.

    Love
    Lidia

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  4. Thanks for this great food-for-thought today! Being a very relational person by nature, my heart longs for this kind of community. Everyone by Design, I believe, has a need for this deep sense of "belonging"...to know they are loved and accepted, and to have commonality with others in ways that are meaningful. Whether it is working together, playing together, praying together or eating together, we long to share our lives with others by regularly coming together. Living in isolation is the absolute worst feeling in the world...the darkest night the soul can ever experience. I'm starting to think of some of the many Scriptures that exhort us to "come together" or affirm the truth that we were not meant to walk through this life alone. Good thoughts here, Rebecca!

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    1. I think "relational" is a part of what it means to be made in the "image of God"! (Another blog post is forming in my mind as I read your (and Janette's) comments...

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  5. Great post...our pastor has been teaching on this a lot...because in this technology world it seems "community is lacking" My neighbor won't stop to talk to me or come in my home for a visit, but she will text me questions or tell me something...she is the age of the tech world. The other neighbor always visits face to face...she is the generation of community. What is sad is the text woman is a Christian, the other not...how do we share the love of Christ without being face to face? Not that the Lord can't use the tech world He does...this post an example, but I don't think it replaces face to face community

    Oh my...you hit a cord in my heart this morning!

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    1. The chords in MY heart have been "hit" by this, too, Janette. It is important and challenging to make technology our "slave" and not our master....

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  6. I have many community's in my life....Faith, family, similar interests, blogging, FB, neighbors and friends(some are believers and some are not), medical, and more. Some of the community's are small some are large, some are personal relationships and some are those passing by. All are important in my life...I glean from each and hopefully I bring the Lord into each.:)

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    1. I'm sure that you DO, Dee (bring the Lord into each one)!

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  7. community is the heart of any fellowship
    and you have to work to find time for it.
    i never regret that, though.

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    1. I've never regretted any work I've put into finding time for community.....It's just that it takes more than one person to create community.

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  8. My heart beats with the same desire. Sometimes I long for the days of small community that the Shaker's had. RB and I found solace in their community after Sarah died, and I've continued to read anything I can find about them.

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  9. This sounds like a wonderful community Rebecca! This post seems so right for this (Harvest) time of year. It must be great to have access to all of the different fruits of the community's labor and friendships!
    Love Di ♥

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    1. Sure DOES sound like a great "community", doesn't it?

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Writing a Song a Week #3

Writing a Song a Week #3
♪ I wait for the Lord; my soul waits and in his word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning ♪ (Psalm 130:5-6)