Community....

There's so much about living in community that I enjoy.

For one thing, when we say "potluck tomorrow night at so-and-so's house"....the response is usually, "great, let's see what's in the fridge to bring.....maybe I'll stop by KFC or I probably could whip up a salad and cut up a watermelon. I think we've got some nacho chips in the cupboard and salsa." When community all thinks like that, it's a smorgasborg to delight even the most finicky of eaters. People bring buns and breads of various descriptions, hotdogs, Trifles, cobblers, hamburgers, veggies and dip...more than we all can eat, certainly.

People came when they were able. Some worked later than others but still there was plenty for all. We sat around and laughed and talked. We watched with praying hearts as old and young children tried their skills on the trampoline...yikes!!!! Babies wandered about, learning to walk up steps, falling and walking again. Everyone helped everyone else.

The host and hostess were generous, kind and gracious too....along with their children.

Community also means sharing in the needs of others, sharing in their joys and sorrows, their accomplishments and their disappointments, their hopes fulfilled and their dreams that have been shattered.

I hugged a friend tonight. I felt her and her husbands disappointment for their hard working son, and it saddened me greatly. I felt for all of them. Some experiences in life can never be taken back or made right for the moment, when the dream should have been fulfilled but wasn't, through no fault of their own. I cried for my friends.

There is a place in community to share those times in life. I'm so glad I am a part of that, where my life is not really my own. I am accountable to my friends but I also I depend on them for their support and encouragement.

Yes. I am blessed to live in a caring community, a community of Christ followers who are learning the lessons of how to love deeply and unconditionally......... and freely.

Gateway Covenant Church is a great place to be real, to have fun and to eat big meals together. The early church was like that too....a place where people wanted to become a part, where they were loved and where people really knew who they were.

It talks about it in Acts 2:46, 47:

"They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved."

So, you want to become a part of a community??? Do I have the place for you.......