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Though I’ve often lived alone, I’m drawn to community and connection. I’ve been blessed to take part in many Christian communities, some for an intense, two-week period of formation and discernment, some for a season of shared prayer and song, and others for a studious semester. Still others endure and sustain, as we gather weekly for liturgical worship amid the ups and downs, joys and conflicts of ministry and life.
Sometimes Jesus whispers among us. Often, he listens and cries beside us. Always, our Savior meets us with forgiveness during corporate confession, speaks boldly through the word and nourishes us at the table. At times, Jesus kneels at our feet in servant love, and in times of great celebration, dances with us! On one holy occasion, I felt a sword of the Spirit hovering over our prayer group as we met for the last time. God was actively shielding and protecting us, strengthening us for what lay ahead.
These days, the Lord has called and gifted me to shape and nurture community for college students. As our Shepherd guides, I select Scriptures, facilitate conversations, plan activities and empower leaders. I make room for diversity and honest questions, and always, point these gifted young adults toward Jesus, interweaving with earnest prayer the benevolent, learning-rich chaos we create together. My role is to listen and mentor, accompany and encourage, yet also to let community emerge and blossom, with each semester unique to those preceding.
Community is a precious gift, yet also hard work with its pitfalls and pain. Our human shortcomings can cause miscommunication, misunderstanding and misalignment of gifts. Those of differing strengths can fail to perceive the grace of how God’s Spirit is powerfully at work in and through those who are shaped in opposite ways. In times of shrinking resources, we can take on a spirit of scarcity, anxiety and fear instead of a spirit of creativity, hope, teamwork and opportunity, trusting in our Creator’s abundance and steadfast care.
Our loving Lord laughs often and joyously—and invites us to do so as well.
The current climate entices us to seek answers in polarity, in anger, in an us-versus-them mentality that places blame definitively outside oneself. By contrast, the communities that have most deeply blessed my journey have been Christ-centered ones that embrace difference, nuance, truths held in tension and an openness about our brokenness as human beings. In sharing personal histories and wounded places honestly from the heart, we unearth the mutual, mortal truth of aching for love, yearning to be held, and longing to be named, seen and forgiven—and we are met by the truest, fullest answer to all that soul-need in the everlasting arms of the triune God.
Amid the ashy grace of human vulnerability, holiness can rise like phoenix wings. At times, I’ve felt we touched heaven for just a moment, whether through corporate prayer, shared song, silence or the mutual humility of foot washing. Amid life stories shared in trust-filled spaces or during moments when a community’s grief unites it in aching trust of a greater truth, God’s tender, loving hands lift and carry us beyond this brief earthly sojourn and shelter us in peace.
And there’s one other sweet surprise. Perhaps the brightest glimpses of God’s presence shine out when laughter erupts unsought, during the childlike silliness of games and creativity, or in delight-filled song and dance. For all my love of intentionality and planfulness, I continue to be amazed by the draw and grace of banter over communal meals and the synergy of soul that can happen amid spontaneous, shared play. Christ’s Spirit loves to engage in hide-and-seek amid the giggles, the unexpected connections and wordplay, and the relaxed spaces of games and community bonding. Our loving Lord laughs often and joyously—and invites us to do so as well.
May your communities be filled to overflowing with open hearts, Spirit-led worship, dancing joy and eager play. And may you find the courage to enter in with childlike abandon and be fully yourself, to the glory of God!
