You know what I look forward to most about heaven/new earth? OK, besides getting to see & worship God, hug Jesus, and have a good conversation with the Holy Spirit? The fellowship. (I know you thought I was going to say the food, didn't you? That's one thing Baptists do have right: Food is part of the definition.)
What I'm craving is more than the occasional potluck, or once a week gathering. It's living everyday together as a community. I want it so bad, that I numb myself from remembering the desire for it until I'm reminded again. Yesterday I had lunch with one of my closest friends who just came back from a whirlwind trip. She was talking about the beauty of the fellowship she saw in both Bolivia and the Dominican Republic. Here we were in Brentwood, TN - a very clean, affluent, high cost of living area - being waited on at a nice restaurant with a cold rain drizzling out of mind outside, yet we were longing for what they had in the poorest of areas. (If you get a chance, read her blog about one of them.) They, have community.
These people spend their days together. They don't plan to get together every other Friday. There is no hiring sitters to so the adults can have grownup time. None of that is bad, but none of that is a true community either. These are people who spend their lives together. They pray together, worship together, cook together, laugh together, console each other, tag-team the kids, and tick each other off every once in a while. Why is there so little of this here? I think we, as Americans, have outwitted ourselves. Yes, we have more - bigger, better, faster - but at what cost?
Before I get comments saying that we all have it here in America, I want you to ask yourself something: Do you work with, have your children attend school with, worship with, live next to, and depend on the same group of people? Not the same ones for each group, but it's the same people for every group. That's the type of comradery I'm talking about. I believe it would help us to encourage each other better. We could not hide our sins as easily because we would know each other. Talk about having accountability partners!
So what do we do about this? Is this something you even desire? Are we even able to in "civilization's" fast lane?
Now all the believers were together and had everything in common... And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all people. And every day the Lord added to them those who were being saved.
Acts 2: 44, 46-47
I think that's why (as odd as this may sound) I've always had a secret desire to live on a commune. College dorm-style living was as close as I'll probably ever get. I love the closeness of living intimately with one another; I wish, at the very least, life could be like it was in the '50s sitcoms and our neighbors could come through the back door for breakfast. Granted, it would probably be irritating if you didn't like your neighbor...but still. I feel like I would get that intimate living if I lived in a smaller town.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think it's gotten worse with the internet...I mean, when was the last time you had a neighbor come over to borrow an egg? That used to happen all the time when I was growing up. Since Tyson and I have been married, we haven't had a single of our neighbors, here or in Memphis, come over and introduce themselves or ask for anything. But ah, the catch is...we haven't introduced ourselves either. :( There's this level of anonymity that has happened, I think, with the internet age...self-checkouts, for example...people don't even want to communicate with a cashier anymore.