commUNITY

Filed in from your blog to mine, god stuff

I believe that the underlying part of all of this is listening to the Holy Spirit and living out His leading within the framework of the Scriptures in the midst of godly community.
... Strong communities are self-correcting. But our churches have bought into the lie that what someone does is his/her own business. It's not, though. If you live in true community, it's the community's business, too.
The above excerpt is from a comment to Jan's post on perseverence. There is also further discussion on discernment and "our inability to distinguish the Spirit from the flesh". I wonder if people desire to be a part of such a community; a community in which all are actively participate in one another's discernment processes. One with trust and vulnerability. One where we learn to patiently wait on God. I am not truly patient but I am learning. Learning to give over control -- God's will versus Jenn's wants. Learning to live without my ducks in a row and details carefully sorted into boxes (boxes which are labelled, alphabetized, cross-referenced, archived and colour-coded). Learning to be silent and listen to the Spirit. Learning to seek community that asks tough questions and insists on accountability. Learning to continue to walk in faith, to keep moving, striving forward.

Comments

i am thinking alot these days about community and what it means...so this caught my eye...i finally read BLUE LIKE JAZZ; seems it's the "cool" thing to read, and wow...it was good..altho i am wary of people who are soooo honest ..but his chapters on living in christian community are practical...and convicting, esp the part about our wanting our alone time to re-charge and how self-centered we are (ouch) and i liked DIFFERENT DRUM by Scott Peck..he was a psychologist...his stuff emphasizes how we CAN change our old ways (that's a poor summary!)but he talks of the need for us to be open, vulnerable..to empty ourselves...oh, how hard that is..to let go of our own agendas...and just listen to another...
blogging helps us listen to each other in a way, but i fear it pulls me away from other community...real life community...the hard stuff..this is like my re-charge community...
well, thanks for your thought-provoking post...and for listening.

:: Posted by atticus (September 2, 2006 10:36 AM)

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