“Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” 1 Peter 2:10 (NIV)
Community has been on my mind a lot lately. Loneliness as well. Our world is rife with loneliness; where has the community gone? I ponder this particularly of the Church. Why haven’t we become the Body as we are called?
If there is one thing that ties most of America together, it is the pervasive loneliness in our society. Really, it shouldn’t be surprising given our nation’s accentuation of individualism. Christians too have fallen into the focus on individualism.
Wearenotindividualsanymorethough.
There was a time when we were. But not now. We are a family, a people. And we ought to be living like one. The Church is so splintered and broken when it should be unified, whole.
Families eat together. Spend time together. Are there for each other. We have become Sunday Christians including in regards to our Christian family. We see them on Sundays, but only for an hour or so, most of which is not spent in actual communion with them.
And that is simply not enough. No, we can’t spend time with every person in our Church. There simply isn’t the time to form deep relationships with everyone. But churches should not function like high schools. Have we really come no further than a faith that splits into cliques even within a single church body?
We have been called to deep faith, deep family, deep relationships. Reach out. Love someone who is sitting alone at church, anywhere. They are someone’s sister, brother, son, daughter, mother, father. Our’s.
A Story, A Symphony 