Community Part III: Pride

            Community goes beyond just putting yourself out there and hoping to get accepted by the people you open up to. Community goes both ways. You also need to accept people who are by no means even close to perfect. They are just as messed up and dysfunctional as you are.

            I work with LifeGroups (our small groups) and the main reason that people say when they want to change to another LifeGroup is that they don’t mesh well with the people in it. Now I agree that you can’t be best friends with everyone you meet, but I think that when other people annoy you, you don’t realize that you are annoying yourself. Pride is a huge roadblock to community.

            Christ binds us all together under Himself. He is the key to community, not what music we like or what clothes we wear. Christ takes us beyond stereotypes and socio-economic status. Seeing Christ in other people and loving them like He tells us to is what leads us to accept others for who they are. If they are annoying that is something in us we have to deal with.

            Trying to check out of one group of community and into another one is a fix that won’t last. Eventually everyone is going to annoy you and you just need to get over it and see them as children of God. See them as more important than you are because they are. We are called to be lowly servants. We are called to love everyone. Don’t let pride get in the way.

Community Part II: A Call to Openness

            Achieving the community we desire is something that takes guts to do. Plain and simple. To experience what community was meant to be at some point you must in fact be open about some stuff  you would rather keep hidden within the depths of your soul. You’ve got to throw your junk on the table and get accepted and loved in spite of that crap. That is the essence of community. Being accepted and loved for who you really are.

            Personally I think that this relies on having Jesus in our lives. To know Jesus is to know that we all have crap in our lives. Crap that separates us entirely from God and each other. No matter how little or how deep and dark the secrets are, both equally separate us from God. Knowing Jesus hushes the voice in our heads that screams that we are better than other people. A new voice is found, a voice that says, “I am no better than anyone. Thank God that he saved me from myself.” Neither of you can get it right without God and others to help.

            Jesus is what unifies us (and makes us equal). He humbles us. Only knowing what Jesus did gives you this view, a view that allows us to embrace the weak (because we are weak) and the hated (because we are no longer filled with hate). Being open shows that we are not dependent on ourselves. We are dependent on others to help carry us along, both other people and especially God. We have to be open because there is no better way to live the life we have been called to.

Community Part I: A Flee From Intimacy

            I think that every human being has a desire. The desire that is shared by all of mankind is the desire to be accepted. It makes sense. The irony of this is that in wanting to be accepted so badly, we become afraid of not being accepted, of being rejected for who we truly are.

            Just looking at my own life I utilize different ways to maintain distance from people. I joke a lot. It is hard to get serious when you make comments that aren’t serious. A lot of times I’ll realize that I’ll put a joke or comment into a serious situation to lighten it up a little bit. It is at these times where who I really am can come out, so best guard against that happening.

            Another technique I use is entirely focusing on the other person. If I just ask them questions and get them to open up maybe I don’t have to. Insecurity in the guise of interest and concern. Not that I’m not interested and concerned, because I am, it just helps with hiding myself.

            Hiding is the ironic part of community. We desire it but we are afraid. We even increases the irony is that along with desiring community from people, we also desire from God, but there is not a being that we try to hide our crap from more. Whenever I commit a big screw up (a lot), I always just end up not talking to God about it for a while. I try to hide from the Guy who is everywhere. Not the smartest plan. Psalm 139 lets us know that we can’t escape him.

            I think that we need to be open with God and with each other to achieve the community that we desire, and in that we need to be loving and accepting of people for who they are. More on that next time.