On Community

Saw this on the internet, don't know the attribution but I really liked it!

 After an absolutely wonderful time at home with my dear sweet family on Thanksgiving weekend, I landed back here in Waterloo to jump right back into graduate student life. And though I have been oh-so-busy with reading, writing, and marking, it was only a few days after being back here that I noticed something missing. After being home for three days of sufficient hugs, spiritual discussions, spontaneous prayer and just generally being with my family, it was a shock to come back to this new city. I realized my life here is lacking community.

I ended up here and I guess I just figured I could plop right down in some Christian community and that would be it. And I have been super blessed to know amazing people here: the church I attend is full of hospitable and caring people, and I cannot attend a Sunday service without feeling God's presence. I pray with a group of graduate students once a week, and I have gotten to know a group of girls who are cultivating community in their humble brick house.

But that does not stop me from missing the Christ-centered community I enjoyed and was a part of at camp and at Acadia. I truly believe God grows His Kingdom through strong, grace-filled communities, and I saw that in action at Acadia and this summer at camp. In Christian community, people get to worship corporately, pray for common goals, work for common goals, and see these goals happen. People are "spurred on toward love and good deeds." When one person in the community is sad, the whole community is sad. And when one member celebrates, everyone does. Being part of a thriving Christian community at Acadia was a source of joy and meaning for me in the past couple of years.

And so when I came to Waterloo I expected I would immediately find such a community. However, my attitude was all wrong. The task is not to find community. The task is to create community. And creating community is not an easy task. I tend to think of the shiny-happy parts of the Acadia community. But I forget how hard it really is.

JOYful worship through music with Acadia folks

Community requires sacrifice. How many times during my time at Acadia did I, and others, set aside academics (and enough sleep) in order to facilitate events, to help a friend in need, to lead Bible studies? We had to put aside our own needs because we believed in the necessity of a healthy Christian community. Sometimes, we had to sacrifice ideas or plans of ours to promote unity. Other times, we sacrificed money to support the vulnerable or missions endevours in our own community. Time is such a precious commodity in life and the sacrifice of time for Kingdom-building efforts just goes to show how worthy the cause really is.
"Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others"-Philippians 2:4

One of my favourite examples of working together for a common goal: After a devastating storm at camp, we worked together for days on this clean-up effort! People were so generous with their time and resources (like the truck pictured).

Community requires commitment. At Acadia, I learned that a good Christian community does not just spring up overnight. It requires commitment from everyone involved. There were a lot of times when I was ready to give up. I led prayer meetings that nobody attended; or people would be antagonistic towards me or others, and I sometimes wanted to forget about it all. But when the community really started to thrive was when there was a few faithful people committed to praying and cultivating community.
"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." -Hebrews 10:25

Community requires risk-taking. There are so many risky parts about living in community. At camp, one of the first things we were challenged to do was share our stories. This was risky because it caused our team to open up vulnerable places of ourselves to each other. In the end, though, it helped keep us honest with each other, understand each other better, and treat each other with more grace. Community is risky because it cannot work unless we are honest and vulnerable with each other; if we choose to trust the deepest parts of our being to other flawed human beings. It is risky because mistakes are inevitable. We will be hurt; and we will hurt others. And this only underscores the need for God to intervene to help with supernatural forgiveness.

One of the riskier initiatives of the Acadia community... I'm sure we all remember the BS Party

Even though community is hard, I still want it. Because it is in community that I have seen God work in amazing ways. I have seen love in action in a way that seems anti-human nature. And I have been challenged to really follow Jesus. But I know community is not something I can just kind of passively join. I need to roll up my sleeves and be willing to get dirty!

**Also I should say that the communities I am talking about here (Acadia and camp), though they are wonderful, are far from perfect. I am not saying we should all emulate them. Any group that includes humans is going to be inherently messed up. If we are looking for someone to emulate, I would point to Jesus.**