Blessing in Community

          A few weeks ago, I came in to work and it was raining in my office. Well, not raining exactly. Rain wasn’t coming down from the ceiling. It was actually coming up from my office air/heat unit. Like the geyser Old Faithful, water spouted out of the unit and created a lake on the floor. Water soaked the red armchair, whose dye seeped into not just my carpet, but the carpet going into the main office. My curtains were stained, the closet door was soaked (thank God the closet door was closed!), and everything that was in the office was suddenly not in my office. I am so thankful all my books stayed dry, as well as my clergy clothing (robes, stoles, etc.).

            But as much as it is frustrating to have my office in complete disarray, I am not writing for sympathy. I’m writing because I am so thankful for people in my church who stepped up to help deal with the problem. From the person who figured out how to take the unit apart and turn the water off, to the woman who showed up at the church with a shop vac, to the people who helped me move stuff out of the office, and most importantly, to the person who is handling all the insurance company phone calls and coordinating repairs to the office (water is lifegiving, but also very damaging), I am thankful.

            Having a team of people available to handle the office disaster with me takes a load of stress off of me. It helps me balance the things in the office I have to face with the weekly and daily ministry tasks I still need to do. Life hasn’t stopped just because the office flooded. So having that team to help bring balance to the situation has been an absolute God-send. This whole process in my office has been a good reminder to me of why we need community. Community is there for us when we need them most. Community builds us up and often holds us up when our own strength seems to fail.

            I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard from people who are going through deep, painful things who say they don’t know how people without community get through things. Having people in our lives that we can lean on and who can lean on us when they need the extra support is what we’re here to do. A church community exists to glorify God, and we glorify God when we love and serve one another.

            Interesting conversations are happening now about redefining church community. Over the past year many churches, mine included, have had to figure out how to minister to a virtual community. Now we’re learning how to minister to both a virtual community and an in-person community. Some have even commented that it’s like having two congregations (which, interestingly enough, is the argument some people give when a church starts thinking about adding a second service). I’m interested in exploring how we better connect these two communities in a way that reminds us we are still one family of faith.

            And maybe we’ve been doing that all along in some ways, but in many ways it’s more pronounced now. I do believe in the power of community. I believe it takes a village, and as someone who grew up in a church and now serves in a paid position in a church, I believe more than ever in the power of the village. And I am wondering what community will look like moving forward. I believe there will be plenty of parts we recognize. And maybe some new things around community will be born.

            Hopefully it doesn’t a flooded office to remind you of the importance of community. In the same way we often say it shouldn’t take a natural or unnatural disaster to bring us together (thinking about those affected by the hurricane, those displaced by war in Afghanistan and other places, and yes, thinking about how we came together 20 years ago when hijackers took over airplanes and changed the world in ways we couldn’t even imagine back then), we should often be thinking of ways to connect to one another. We ought to constantly build connections and tend to one another.

            Frankly, I’m excited to see how God will work through all of this. I believe God has some amazing things in store for us, and I’m excited to see what comes next. I’m also excited to see how my office gets put back together. But in the meantime, I’m incredibly thankful for my community of faith.

 

What has your community of faith meant to you? How have you felt a sense of belonging in your community? What does it feel like when you lose a community and how do you find community again? Feel free to dialogue with me in the comments below!