Living in community with other believers
is a gift from God. Beyond our life in Christ, we are offered rich benefits
when we belong to others who share our love of Christ.
Last week, I was in church almost every
day. For me, church attendance is more
than duty or obligation it springs from a love of God and the love of people.
It is a joy to be a part of community when we share our everyday lives.
Funny, I have not always felt this way. I
didn’t want people to be all up in my business.
I was almost secretive. I was willing to only reveal only certain parts of my
life. I did not want to share my
struggles or my fears. So I settled for superficial church friendships.
Today, I have grown to appreciate the
gift of community. Outside the confines of the weekly services, I treasure the
common life we share. In community, we share our joys, burdens, accomplishments,
grief, and struggles.
In one part of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book,
Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community, he stated this
so profoundly,
“It may be that Christians,
notwithstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in
service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break-through to
fellowship does not occur, because, through they have fellowship as believers
and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners.
The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal
his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many
Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered
among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and
hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners! "
The community of believers offers a safe
space to be authentic and honest with people who will pray with us and for us.
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