Community

Community.... What is it about community?

We are the body of Christ. WE are the body of Christ. Not me. we. God is found in community, even broken community. For where else could God be found? If God were not found in broken community, he would not be found anywhere. Some of us raise our hands and dance and shout, and some of sit, and think, and pray. This is what the body of Christ means to me: Seeing Christ in all, from humility of those who know they are broken, to the enthusiasm of those who want to do nothing more than praise Him. Christ is revealed in us. We are His body.

Lord, help me not to criticize my brothers and sisters. Help me to see the truth through the layers, through the crooked doctrine, the broken theology, the hurt, the pain, the mistakes. Help me to see the body the way you see the body – perfect, perfected by you. The church will only be healed when we learn to see each other the way Christ does. Christ died for US, plural, collective, all. Not just the evangelicals, not just the Lutherans, Not just the Pentecostals, All.

How do we expect to be a healing force to the world, when we cannot even agree to simply love each other, even in our differences, even in our brokenness? Is it any wonder that other religions look at us and see us as actively choosing heaven over hell, actively choosing war over peace, actively fighting against His children, no matter what faith they believe?


Do we only become His children when we are saved, or are all people His children, worthy of true love, true compassion, true forgiveness, true mercy? If we believe that we have Good News, why do we act as if it is news that brings only pain and war? HE IS GOOD NEWS.

Lord, help me to walk this. Help me to believe this. Wash my heart of scorn for those who I see as pretentious, those who I see as over-enthusiastic, those who I see as artificial. Help me to see all in the church as His body, doing His work, by His good grace and mercy, through our brokennes.