What does it mean to be in community? How does it feel? How do we ‘do’ community when we are not physically with our community? These are some of the questions that I have been reflecting on recently.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has ‘set eternity in the human heart’, meaning He designed us to be connected to Him, and to be in community with Him. He set in each of us that desire to know Him and to feel known by Him.
Jesus died on the cross to open the way for all of us to be reconciled to Our Father, and as followers of Christ, to be in community with each other too.
It feels good to be in community doesn’t it, to feel that we belong and that we matter, and for some of us, to feel that we can help others in our community and make a difference in their lives.
So how do we still do this when we are physically apart, or when we may be fearful of what the future holds at this current time?
Acts 2:42-47 describes the Fellowship of the Believers and tells us how they ‘did’ community during a fearful time of persecution. It tells us that the early church (firstly) devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Many of these things we can do from home. We can read and meditate on the word of God, we have various means to enable us to keep in touch with each other, we can be thankful for Jesus’ sacrifice, and we most certainly can pray.
The Greek word used for fellowship in verse 42 is ‘Koinonia’ from the word ‘Koinos’ (Common, ordinary, belonging to), and bears witness to what we share in together, our relationship with God; and then also what we share out together, what we give out, as well as receive.
By nurturing our relationship with God, we will be able to depend, and trust on Him, during these unusual times.
Lastly verse 47 tells us how the early church praised God daily. And while we might not be able to attend our usual church services at this time, we are able to engage with the online services that we are uploading via our website and various social media platforms. We can worship at home, either on our own, or with our family members and again we have made available some great family resources for us all to use. To help us stay further connected, on Sundays we also have two different ‘zoom’ conversations that we can join in with, 4pm for Family focus, and 6:30pm for ‘The Gathering’.
I pray in the days ahead that we may all be able to connect deeper with God, and with each other, and if there is anyone you know of that is feeling particularly isolated then please do get in touch with us so that we can do what we can to help them feel connected.
In His name,
Mandy Richardson
Children Youth and Families Minister