Salvation Sunday: Being in Community.

Today we visited a church to hear a friend of ours preach. He had this great sermon about building a community. The feeling of community is something we all want to feel and be a part. We all choose groups of people to hang out with or associate ourselves with for the fulfillment of what can I get out of it.

I am no exception. I often find myself saying, "What will this do for me?" And if the community does not pan out, I move on with my life to one more fitting.

The need for acceptance. The feeling of happiness. The place to unload our burdens (and complaints). We strive to find stimulation and commonalities with the groups we hang with. And these groups of people provide us with love, want, and feeling needed, or so we think.

Have you ever thought about community in the context of faith? Acts 2: 42-47 offers insight into what community looked like in the early church. So different than the world today.

I am so blessed to have three other moms in my neighborhood that stay-at-home. We often get together during that long stint in the afternoon following nap time (especially on a rainy day). The kids can play while us moms can actually have an adult conversation. These afternoons stretch into dinner time as we start combining our efforts to feed our families. Someone provides the meat and another makes the side dishes for a complete, stress free meal. What joy is there in sitting down around the table with people you feel comfortable with who do not care if you cleaned the house or put on make up that day.

In my mind, that is the closest picture of reality to community building. Community for people of faith is rooted in giving. We give encouragement. We share our resources. We walk along each other during times of burden, lifting each other up. We keep each other accountable, admonishing and training one another to be Christ-like. We rejoice together.

Remember the famous quote, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." I think this applies to community building. How can I serve others? What can I share? What act of kindness can I perform?

Those other feelings - acceptance, love, being needed - those fall into place naturally as a result.