Community
By Joanne Kiel
Many of us have had the experience of meeting someone and, within a short period of time, feel like we have known them for years. It is as if there is a deep connection that goes beyond the time and space of this world. Many of us have also had the experience of being in a group of people, yet feeling alone and isolated. These connections and lack of connections are effected by how we are feeling about ourselves, whether or not we are feeling trusting towards others and whether or not we are feeling connected to the Lord.
The Lord wants us to feel these connections and a sense of community. He wants us to feel supported by others just as He wants us to love and support others. Unity and a feeling of community doesn’t begin in examining others, but in examining ourselves. Our connection with others does not begin with our demanding that others change, but in admitting we aren’t so perfect ourselves. What is one of the first steps towards unity? A charitable response of accepting and honoring other people. When we find ourselves in disagreement with others, what is a big piece of the answer? Charity through acceptance.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "My friends have come to me unsought. The great God gave them to me." Truly this ability to have friends and to love them unselfishly is a gift from the Lord. Life’s spiritual path is partially made up of useful service to those around us. The Lord wants us to reach out to our community in love and service. When we reach out to others, not only do we make a connection that might help them, it helps us. It helps us know that heartfelt service and connection to others is truly the spiritual path. Albert Einstein said that our separation from one another is an optical illusion of consciousness. Martin Luther King Jr. called for transformation to "global thinking," thinking not of ourselves as separate individuals living lives of isolation, but of a world where we know that we are truly one with one another.
In a true community, people look to each other as brothers and sisters. True community teaches us to love all children as if they were our own. It is in believing that you and I are connected that we can feel safe and secure and truly loved. Spread your love everywhere you go. Start in your own home with your own families and spread it out to all those you work with, to those you meet during the day, and on into the broader community. The love we give out will multiply and grow and "be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put in your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:38).