Community: We need one another!

Since my birthday back in February, I've felt God putting it on my heart to write more, particularly in the form of blogging.  I felt him say to begin by writing about community and what I've learned about it since I began "living in community" with some married friends of mine back in June of 2012. This could take multiple posts as there is quite the story of how we ended up living together, and it's a continual journey learning what living in community is really all about.

Currently I work as a home care nurse in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver, one of the "poorest postal codes" in Canada. I have seen a lot of suffering and brokenness, things I never could have imagined. I have also seen community that I didn't expect which is so beautiful. Yet I have also seen isolation at its worst.

I'm sure there are numerous studies about isolation and people's health, and how social support is a huge determinant of health. I'm convinced it's the most important! Anyway, that's just the nurse in me coming out right there. Lately I have encountered people through my job who are in some very tough, heart-wrenching circumstances without a lot of support and it's really driven this home for me: we need each other, we need community. Desperately.

No amount of money will buy you community. No amount of money will make you happy. Cute homes, good views, expensive clothes, nice cars... none of this amounts to much when it comes down to it. We need God, and we need each other. People long to be in community more than I think they even know! People long to be loved, to be known, to be heard, to be touched, to be seen. I'm realizing more and more that God created us to live in community with one another.

God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.

Psalm 68:6

I just love this verse! He places the lonely in families (community!). While I have wonderful parents, siblings and extended family, God has revamped and expanded my definition of family and placed me in one that is just right for this season in my life. I am a single woman, living away from immediate family and where I've grown up. Living alone was always an option I suppose, but not one that seemed right at this time. I can't say I was lonely, but let's be honest, loneliness is real life struggle whether you are single or not and isn't dependent on your living arrangements necessarily.

God has provided community, a family to me. I have the privilege of living together with a married couple and their precious baby (who wasn't born or even in the womb when we first moved in together!). Basically, we share life together. That means we have seen each other at our worst and best (which is humbling at the best of times). We enjoy sharing meals together, and we definitely laugh a lot. As a community we also take time to pray together. Is it easy all the time? Nope. But all of us are called to do life together in some form of community. The Bible encourages this - eating together, fellowship, praying/worshipping together.... Jesus instructs us to love one another, encourage one another and bear each others' burdens. The context of this? Community.

Regardless of where you are living, with whom you are living with and where you are at... what does community look like for you in this season, right now? There is really no set way this has to look, which is the beauty of it! God can work creatively in any circumstance to help us establish community. Sometimes, he brings it to us. Sometimes, we have to search it out. For me it was a combination. God provided people to live in community with, yet we longed for more since moving further away from our church community and we were able to start a small group of sorts with other Vancouverites who also "commuted" to church. Ask him what it looks look, how to get it, and what he has for you! We serve a God who cares for our every need, and knows about them before we even ask.