It’s Time to Show Up

Over the better part of the last two years, we have witnessed a decline in community.  The “distancing” that was so steadily encouraged at the beginning of the pandemic has settled into a way of life.  Masks hide our faces and we tend not to linger for conversation like we would before.  Gatherings that would attract many into close proximity are less attended, if they are happening at all.

The old saying is true.  You don’t know what you have until it’s gone.  The socially distanced version of church misses an important component – community.  This got me thinking about the nature of community.  What is it about community that we have missed by being apart?  Sometimes I find it helpful to take words apart to learn a little more about their meaning.  Community is one of those words.  Community is the combination of the word “unity” with the prefix “com,” which means “together.”  So, community happens when people come together in unity.  Both parts seem to be essential for community to happen. 

Some kind of unity is essential in order to have community.  People can find that unity in just about anything.  A family reunion has that unity in genealogy.  People living on the same block are unified by location. A sports team and its fans are unified around the team.  Those who all care about a social cause rally around it.  In our case, we are unified in our belief that Jesus is our savior and our guide. 

Community also needs to happen in proximity to one another.  Those in unity must be together.  This part has been particularly challenged in the pandemic.  What does it mean to be together?  Is it to be physically in the same place at the same time as others?  Is it gathering virtually at the same time in our homes?  Is it Zooming with all the floating heads on our screens?  While I think there are newly appreciated benefits to virtual gatherings, we have come to realize how important it is for us to physically be together. 

By its nature, community is achieved when both “com” and “unity” happen at the same time.  Leave one or the other out and it’s not community.  For instance, what happens when people are together, but not unified?  If you’ve ever been in a room with people who seriously disagree with each other, you know the feeling.  Anxious tensions, awkward conversations and sideways glances fill the room.  In a setting of mistrust, gossip, arguments, or worse can plague the gathering.  It’s definitely not community.

What about the opposite?  What happens when people are unified, but not together?  In this case, we miss one of the greatest benefits of unity, which is mutual encouragement in a mutual cause.  Why do you attend a wedding?  It’s because you and everyone else there are unified in support of the couple getting married.  Now, you can still support the couple from afar, but something different happens when you show up.  It’s community.

It’s time for God’s united people to show up.  We are called by God to be a community of believers, not just a bunch of people who agree from afar.  I understand that some may not be able to gather.  We need to reach out to those for whom gathering isn’t possible.  However, this should be the exception, not the rule.  We are unified around the greatest truth.  God has saved us through Jesus.  Let’s show up in worship to celebrate that.  Let’s get together in Bible study to grow in it.  Let’s gather in small groups to nurture each other in it.  When we do, we’ll find one of God’s greatest gifts – community.