Growing up, I always found myself looking for ways to be quietly useful. I was never the sort to enjoy the spotlight and yet I couldn’t help but feel left out when I wasn’t involved in something. Whether it be at recess during elementary where I wasn’t selected until late for teams due to not being particularly athletic, or at church where I watched as my older brother ingratiated himself with the praise team by playing bass guitar. I never imagined myself being anyone’s top pick or someone who would be on the stage nor did I ever desire to be at the center of attention, and as a matter of fact, I actually disliked the thought. In many ways I still do.
But the desire to belong and to be a part of community is something that is ingrained into all of us. God has created us to be within community with one another. This is true for the believer and the unbeliever. This is reflected in a growing loneliness epidemic that has been plaguing my generation. A generation that knew and experienced what life was like in an analog world but slowly bore witness to that world
shift to a digital one. We grew up with the technology that is now this generation’s default. At first, we were excited about how this technology cut the distance between people from across time zones or even neighborhoods. But now, we bemoan how technology has seemingly taken away our ability to connect in the physical world.
For the Christian, we see community as something that God has provided for us so that we may worship Him together in fullness and joy. We are instruments that were made to play in concert with a grand symphony of other instruments, not a solo, to worship our Creator. We are a community in the best of times in the worst of times. We seek to meet each other spiritual, physical, and emotional needs. We encourage each other forward when times are difficult for us.
For the non-Christian community, community is a place to belong. A fulfillment of the hole in one’s heart to belong and derive meaning from one another’s presence and acknowledgement. A place of comfort and of growth. That is to say, community outside of a Christian one isn’t a bad thing at all. One of my fondest and most loved communities is one from my childhood called Chinese Youth Leadership Camp. Nothing to do with Christianity and yet I love them for the lessons they taught me and the lessons I gave to them.
Community isn’t always easy because people aren’t always easy. You or someone you may know might have been hurt by a church member, perhaps even this church. However, I ask you to give our community another chance. While we may not be the best representatives of a great and loving God, we are learning how to be better representatives together as one body. At our church there is always a seat at the table for you and me, for the sinner, the outcast, the loner, the broken, the hurting, the sick, and the lowly. Why? Because we are a community that can relate to our brokenness and emptiness in our lives.
Stephen Lee