Ax+By=C[ommunity], Right?

What is the role of community in our Christian lives? To be honest, I have no idea.

But I'm trying to find out.

I'm reading a book called "Kingdom of Couches" put out by CruPress. It's a short book written by a guy named Will Walker. Walker is a Campus Crusade worker at University of Texas (or at least that's what the books says....I assume that's not a lie). Anyway, his proposition and hypothesis is that community, in it's truest most real form, is essential to our development in faith and our relationship to Christ and God. I'd love to be able to explain all that he says, but I think I'd better wait until I've finished the book so I don't mix up anything or say something I don't believe two days from now.

I'm also participating in a 'community group' thing on Monday nights. It's really just a bunch of us getting together talking about random topics that we want to talk about....like next week we're talking about our relationships with non-Christians....But it's also us, inadequately striving to create some type of true 'knowing' of each other. We want to be Christians, but we want more than that to be family. We're trying, and I never thought it could be so complex. I know that we can't figure everything out and then give a try. It has to be worked out over time, over this semester, on more than just Monday nights and in a greater way than just conversation. We have to love, hurt, tell the truth, succeed, fail and most of all, be honest with each other. Through that we can come to see God's grace more truly for what it is. Community hurts and loves and more than anything else, it takes time. It just takes time.

Relationships cannot be formulized despite what Dr. Phil and Match.com would have you believe. Each relationship is too intricate with too many variables to ever be contrived. And so I guess what I'm learning from Monday nights so far is that I have to invest time. I'm willing and ready and I can't wait.

(And just for the sake of honesty, let me go ahead and say I'm scared to death. I'm scared that someone on Monday nights will find out who I am and how little I actually look like Christ. I'm afraid that I'm going to try to find community and I will fail. I'm terrified that just maybe I will be held responsible for my actions and also for my dreams. I'm so scared to be known, and I'm scared because I need it so much. So I guess.....Here's to community and here's to being subconsciously frightened of finding truth and knowing that I need it.)

Until next time.