COMMUNITY

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25

All people who connect in fellowship are a community. A community does not merely represent people who are grouped in proximity. It also means people who join together with a common interest such as a choir, a church, a club, an exercise, support, or a charity group. 

At one time, before modern technology, community meant physical togetherness, but in today's world, we join on the computer, phones, smart pads, etc. We have community websites like Facebook and Twitter. We have group meetings like Zoom and Facetime. We can connect to people we have never met; for example, I have never met Mason Barge or Ann Brock, yet we work together to further the kingdom of God. We are a community with one common denominator, spreading the good news of Jesus and spurring one another to grow in Christ.

God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a community in and of Himself. Richard Rohr, in his book The Divine Dance, summarizes the words of Richard of St. Victor, a 12th-century mystic, by saying, "For God to be good, God can be one. For God to be loving, God has to be two, because love is always a relationship. But for God to share ‘excellent joy’ and ‘delight,’ God has to be three, because supreme happiness is when two persons share their common delight in a third something—together," and this is what defines "community."

God created us for the community. The equation of  God, others, and ourselves, is a threesome triangle, an association as one kindred that reaches globally and through all time. The distancing and quarantining in this pandemic, causes us to suffer somewhat because God made us with His relationship nature. The saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," gives us time to ponder how we treat others. Let this time remind us of the importance of kindness, patience, and forgiveness as we choose, through Jesus, to live in His joint alliance of life, love, harmony, and peace.

Thank you, Father, for making us a community with you and with others. Helps us to treat others with love. Amen.