Community

“You either walk inside your story and own it or you stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness” Brené Brown. 

If you happen to be unfamiliar with Brené Brown’s work, treat yourself. At a basic level, she encourages folks to harness the courage required to be vulnerable and authentic. Although she mostly speaks from a secular and business background, she has such an important message for the church. When it all boils down, the church is offering community. We are people who come together not because we have our faith figured out, not to inch closer to heaven, and certainly not to dress up nice and flaunt how well life is going. We are a broken people longing to encounter something bigger than ourselves. 

The Greek word for community is Koinonia, which is not only used to describe what is created when Christians gather together, but also when we commune with God. When we form communities that are centered around the love of others and God, we are creating something that is literally out of this world. This kind of divine community is only possible through genuine authenticity. It’s by no means a perfect community that is required, but it’s a community that is transparent about its weaknesses. It owns its ignorance and love living in the grey. Take it from someone who is a part of the generation that we are trying to welcome into the church, Jesus does not need marketed. Jesus does not need to be made trendy. Jesus simply needs to be followed. 

Being honest about Jesus is perhaps the best place to start. Jesus was non-white, homeless, unemployed, and radical. As a footnote, technically Joseph was the carpenter. Jesus hung out with sex workers. He spent time criticizing the religious. He told the wealthy to give their money away and persuaded people to love their enemies. Once we move beyond the falsities about Jesus and cut through our stubborn insistence on remaining comfortable, only then can Koinonia be found. Courage is required to be honest and authentic. Our faith is strong enough to be stretched and challenged. When we’re exposed and our guard is down, that’s when the Holy Spirit swoops in. 

To be honest, Koinonia can be difficult to come by. I’ll spend my lifetime trying to recreate it simply because I get a whiff of it from time to time. When Cookie Sunday runs too long because we enjoy the company, that’s Koinonia. When we package vegetables and the Food Bank while dancing to the Village People, that’s Koinonia. When we leave a casserole on the doorstep of an elderly member who is recovering from a medical setback, that’s Koinonia. It is community that is built on love, compassion, hospitality, and generosity. When we finally reach the kind of community that God intends, in its fullest expression, we will have poured-out our fullest self into a Christ-centered mission that benefits others. Indeed, we may have “faith that can move mountains, but if our faith does not have love, we have nothing” (1 Cor. 13:5).

With hands joined, 

Pastor Lucas McSurley 

Image by Annie Spratt