Robust Community

I read James 1-5

Normally this would have gone up yesterday, but Blogger was down when I went to post so it's coming up today :) Also normally, I should post about chapter 5, but something smacked me upside the head when I read chapter 3 that I decided to write about that instead: "You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor (3:18).

The mission trip that we went on exactly one month ago opened my eyes to the extreme divisions along age lines in my group, and also how destructive it could be to someone new who has that as his or her first experience of Christian community. Nothing was overtly hostile, maybe a few rude interactions, but indifference can say a lot too. So, I've been thinking about the situation a lot and trying to come up with ways to deal with it since it evidently has not been dealt with before.

So, as I get to the point where I will be dealing with this stuff sometime when I get back next month, this verse is especially important to me as it lays a foundational understanding of what it takes to create a community that "lives right with God." It takes, foremost, hard work. A community doesn't just get along. Living in community is not something that just happens in the absence of conflict between individuals. Living in community only happens when everyone involved works to prevent conflict and encourage mutual respect and love. More than that, we are called to treat each other dignity and honor that arises from our status as God's children, the status that equalizes all of us in his eyes as brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, get ready, Quail Hollow Youth, we're going to be reading this one a LOT in the coming year :)