Vow II: Community

A shared and stable life.

Man, I wish I could have a nickel for every time I've heard the word "community" since I've been here in Wilmore. That'd take care of my student loans in a hurry. I think I'm getting brainwashed. A couple of weeks ago, my Entertainment Weekly arrived in the SPO with the TV show Lost on the cover. Now, I've never seen the show, but reading about it the first thing to pops into my mind is, "Wow, what a great metaphor for community!"

The same weekend I go to see the film Crash and leave thinking, "Wow, what a great metaphor for community!"

This is what Asbury is doing to me. And I dare not let it become a cliche to me. I spent some time this summer with some friends I knew in college. And I was reminded of that mentality I was exposed to in a different Christian setting that had no concept of community - where it's just about Jesus and me.

One of my favorite movies that impacted me most about the concept of community is About a Boy. In the movie, the character of Will vehemently denies the age-old statement that no man is island. By the end of the story, he still holds that he is an island, but he has also learned that he is an island chain, connected to countless other islands just beneath the surface.

The fact of the matter is we are all connected - all of us on this planet earth, those who profess Jesus as Lord and those who do not yet - in very deep and profound ways, and we have no idea just how deep it goes. I believe it is Jesus who wakes us up to this realization of just how much I need you and we all need each other. We are like Aspen trees that above the surface appear to exist independently of one another, but below the ground are one interconnected, twisted knot of roots. Like the apostle Paul says, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all" (Eph 4:4-6).


Living in Christian community is this waking up to see just how enmeshed my life is with yours and yours in mine. And sometimes it may be messy and complicated and inconvenient and a big disruption. But this is the way that God has made us to need one another.

One morning this past week we prayed in the liturgy, Lord, keep us in your love, preserve our community, do not let us become separated from one another.

Lord, let is so be in our house.