Like powdered lemonade after fresh-squeezed.
Like manual car windows after power windows.
Like your local theme park after Disney World.
This is kind of how I feel about living in community now... except on a much larger, more significant scale than lemonade and car windows.
Attending a Christian college, the idea of community was regularly forced on us as students. We had all sorts of mandatory hall meetings and events and requirements all in an effort to create a sense of "community" on campus. "Community" was such a buzz word, and apparently mandatory "fun" was how we were going to achieve it. I think you can guess how well that worked.
This is how Paul of the New Testament describes living in community:
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,... Philippians 2:1-5
Living in Mbarara last year was where I truly first learned the value, pleasure, and purpose of living in intentional community with other believers. I experienced the bonds that form when you share life's joys and struggles, ups and downs, frustrations and celebrations with those around you. I learned what it looked like to worship together on Sunday morning and keep on worshiping together all week long, carrying each other's burdens and delighting in each other's triumphs. Living in this community was authentic. It was messy, and it was real. And it was beautiful!
It was what I was going to miss the most in returning to the States, specifically to a place where I hadn't really lived in the last six years.
But God, in His infinite faithfulness, started providing a community for me right away. He reminded me of the few precious, old friends I still have here in town and gave me ample time to reconnect with them.
I was also able to get connected with and involved in my church here right away, and just like that, the Lord provided a beautiful group of new friends to do life with this year.
One of the most powerful game-changers for me this year was joining a growth group. It's more than your typical weekly meeting for Bible study and prayer (which we have and love); it's getting into one another's lives on all levels.
Though our lives intersected just nine short months ago, I feel like I've known these friends for a long time. With these brothers and sisters, I have experienced deep, meaningful conversations, hashing through tough decisions and life's questions.
We have game nights, dinner outings, girl's lunches, baking days, and go to classes at the gym together.
We share music and ideas. Wisdom and experiences.
We discover new places together and peel back the layers of our lives.
There's something so beautiful and real about living in community like this.
It's like my soul is breathing a sigh of contentment and relief, knowing that this... this... is how the Church is meant to be.
This is a reflection of who God is. Who we are as His image-bearers.
And while these friends and I only together like this for a season of life, now that I have experienced something so wonderful, to have anything less in the future just won't do.
Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ...
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,
especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6: 2,10
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