The discipline of daily blogging has been very beneficial for me. Having to spend 30-45 minutes each day to reflect and process the day is a discipline that would probably benefit all of us. So it has been an unhealthy digression for me personally to have gone this long without blogging.
But I have found in my "blogging vacation" that the community of those following these thoughts is more vast than I imagined. In the last two days I have had conversations with people that I barely know and people that I know well yet live far away who have continued following this communal journey. So to those of you who are following this blog, thank you for your kind words and for the accountability that you offer me simply by reading this.
Our little group gathered together as a community on Sunday night for the first time in two weeks. We spent a lot of time complaining about this dang fast. Where I thought this diet would get easier as the 40 days went along, it looks like the farther into this we get, the more difficult it becomes. Now, that would make a lot more sense if it were a true no-eating fast. But I didn't quite understand why it has turned more difficult on the fast we're on. It's not like we're hungry; for the most part, we're just bored with eating the same thing every meal. But it has become more difficult for all of us.
But one of our friends nailed it in our conversation. Because we had gone a Sunday without meeting, we hadn't had our weekly opportunity to "gripe" (not the word he used). And we have come to rely on this gathering to feel legitimate community. We need to know that people understand what it is that we are going through. We need to know that we are not alone in this struggle.
And that's one of the primary things that the church has lost. We went so long trying to work out a theology of "personal salvation" that we forgot the importance of community. And then when we rediscovered community, we thought that we could program it. We tried small groups and ministry teams and support groups and the list goes on and on. But community happens when we do life together, not when we try to make it happen. Accountability happens when we truly care for one another, not when we plan a 6am coffee every other week. Vulnerability is what happens when deep trust is established over time, not when the church tells us we should trust somebody because other people have trusted them.
Community is hard. And time-consuming. And painful. And unlike anything else this world offers. And those who have experienced it will never settle for the programmatic version.
Great post. I think you hit the nail on the head regarding genuine community/fellowship. I think of the the way my faith community communicates and lives life and it is nothing like the family life I have at home. Although some programming may be necessary, especially as kids become teens and eventually young adults, we cannot expect to have successful or meaningful relationships with our spouses and kids through such conventions. How have we convinced ourselves that Christian family is any different?
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