I recently read a quote about “community” and its impact on us. This relates to my struggle with ‘church’, but in a positive way. This quote shows how community can function positively. It seems to me this is a clue for when ‘church’ (or better, Jesus community) is working well:
“Living in community I discovered who I was. I discovered also that the truth will set me free, and so there’s the gradual realization about what it means to be human. To be human is that capacity to love which is the phenomenal reality that we can give life to people; we can transform people by our attentiveness, by our love, and they can transform us. It is a whole question of giving life and receiving life, but also to discover how broken we are.” -Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche
Community happens beyond ‘church’, it is somewhere we can share with anyone, everyone, if we are open. We can love everyone (yes, says Jesus, even our enemies) and we can receive from them. If we take the time to look at ourselves, we will discover how broken we are. And how that makes us like everyone else.
How can this apply to ‘church’? How can we experience community like this together?