“Community”
SCRIPTURE
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. —Romans 12: 3-5
DEVOTIONAL
Canadian philosopher and theologian and founder of L’Arche, Jean Vanier describes the Christian community. Vanier writes,
To be in community means to be with someone and to discover that we actually belong together. Community means accepting people just as they are, with all their limits and inner pain, but also with their gifts and their beauty and their capacity to grow: to see the beauty inside all the pain. To love someone is not first of all to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty and value, to say to them through our attitude: “You are beautiful. You are important. I trust you. You can trust yourself…” In community, you are you and I am I: I have an identity, and you have yours. I must be myself and you must be yourself. We are called to grow together, each one becoming more fully himself or herself. Community, in fact, gives us freedom to grow. This entails deep listening to others, helping them to become more fully themselves. 1
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- Where have you seen or experienced this type of community?
- How is this community formed?
- Henri Nouwen says that, “Following Jesus is entering more and more into the intimate mystery of God.” How does your community guide you to that mystery?
“A tree is not a forest.”
—Peter Wohlleben
PRAYER
Lord, open our heart to community, that, through it, we might find our true selves.
Amen.
1 Vanier, Jean. From Brokenness to Community. (Mahwah: Paulist Press), 1992.
The daily devotionals for the season of Lent are written by Rev. Dr. Kirk Hall, Associate Pastor of Formation at First Presbyterian Church from 2010-2013. He is currently a founding partner at The Metis Project, LLC. and lives with his wife and two girls in Salisbury, Connecticut.