Community
Photo By Hudson Hintz
“The more aged I become the more I realize the importance and necessity of genuine community.”
There’s something that is in our innate nature that craves to belong and connect. The power of this craving can be seen in the power of culture.
I remember watching a video that illustrates this. The video was an experiment that brought in a handful of strangers, one test subject was in a group of people, and there was another test group that tested individuals. The test was a basic observation where the test subject have to answer a simple question. The ones doing the experiment tested the individuals and they got the observations right. In the group of people they had told all but one person to say a particular answer. What happened was that the person who wasn’t let in on the secret picked the same incorrect answer as the group. This happened in multiple groups. Even though the answer was wrong, the culture, the community coming in agreement made it seem correct.
Psalm 133 in the TPT reads:
1 How truly wonderful and delightful to see brothers and sisters living together in sweet unity!
2 It’s as precious as the sacred scented oil flowing from the head of the high priest Aaron, dripping down upon his beard and running all the way down to the hem of his priestly robes.
3 This heavenly harmony can be compared to the dew dripping down from the skies upon Mount Hermon, refreshing the mountain slopes of Israel. For from this realm of sweet harmony God will release His eternal blessing, the promise of life forever!
Even though the experiment was with strangers how much more powerful is it with people that you are connected with and care deeply about. There are things that God wants to pour out on His people that He is waiting for those people to come together in ”sweet unity”. Not with hidden agendas, compartmentalize culture, or any of the other religious rhetoric that our culture idolizes but with the type of devotion towards one another like revealed in the beginning of Acts. The type of community that eradicates poverty and all of its wicked children-depression, loneliness, etc.
The church was never meant to be just about meeting once a week but it was birthed to bring Heaven to Earth. A major part of that is community.
You may be thinking “that’s awesome and I agree wholeheartedly with that but where do I start?”. I am glad you asked, you start by making a decision to be the person that cares more about community then superficial culture. Decide that you are going to have a friend or friend that you are going to make a covenant with that distance, distractions, and offense will not break. Then talk to the Holy Spirit about who to make that covenant with. Another thing that you can do is decide how you want your life to impact the world and then find people that are doing that and tag along. Some of the best relationships of my life have came from common interest and serving other people.
In closing, we can talk about genuine community all day but until we decide to be that person who refuses shallow relationships and take the step to create the community that we long for around us, nothing will ever change.
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” - The Lorax
-Patrick V. Murray (click for more content)
