Part of my story is that after my parents died in a car accident when I was 20, I was so consumed with anger and confusion over why God would allow something so awful that I eventually left the church. It was easy enough to do—I never made a commitment to any particular church in college or to my parents’ church. So when I decided not to go anymore, there was really no one to miss me.
At first I reveled in my freedom, happy to be free of what I now considered restraints of accountability and legalism. I not only wandered from the church, but I wandered into other places. Unhealthy places I thought would offer me safety and life and happiness, but which left me feeling used, unknown, and very lonely. Completely without community and love.
Fast forward many years, and I was on my knees in my little apartment, like the woman reaching out to touch Jesus’ robes, hoping that He would have mercy on me and restore me to Him. Which He did, because he had been pursuing me all along despite my angry heart.
I ended up on the East Coast living with my sister Erin’s family. The first Sunday I went to church with her, the Music Director greeted me warmly saying, “Welcome home.” Those words opened a world of safety and community to me for the year I was there. I loved being a part of that church family, growing and serving and being loved. It was a beautiful season for me.
The contrast between the years of no community versus being in community is stark. I’ve shared a bit in the past about how my husband and I struggled to find community once we were married. Those seasons of not having community, whether by choice or not, were dark and lonely and painful.
Each of us on the MF team has a different story of community—times we haven’t had it, times it worked, times it didn’t, how God met us in those places, what we’ve learned, how we’ve failed. The list goes on and on. We have collected many questions and topics from you all to address and discuss, and we are pleased to be officially starting our series on community this week.
We hope this will be a blessing to you as we process what community is and what it means as Christians to live in community with each other. We don’t have all the answers, but we have hearts that are willing to dig deeply and walk this with the Mundane Faithfulness community.
“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.”
Dear God, Thank you that you designed us for relationships. Thank you that we are created to do life together with love and kindness and grace. And thank you, most of all, that you sacrificed what was dearest to you in order to have relationships with us. Please give us faith in your love for us, and give us courage and wisdom as we explore what it means to live in community with you and each other. Amen.
