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“In community we join together lives that are bursting with promise and potential but that are also marked by grief and sorrow. We exist as individual strands of a larger narrative. When our lives are woven together with others’, something new emerges–rich in texture, vibrant and transcendent. The diversity and richness that arise out of being bound up with others produces a holy space. It invites God to meet with us and among us.” page xxii

We may not often think about community as freedom. If anything, the opposite seems to be true in our culture. People are free to do all kinds of things, and being part of a community entails relationships and accountability, which often feel restrictive. 

But in Christian community the opposite should be true. Our relationship with God, and our relationship with God’s people, free us to do things we could not do without the encouragement of a community. We are freed to speak truth, knowing that we are not alone in doing so. We are free to love those who are difficult to love, because we belong to a gathering of people committed to doing the same. We are free to lament and grieve, and also to celebrate and rejoice, because when we do those things we do not do them alone.

Community can be incredibly freeing. Romans 12 highlights that for us. In Christian community, we find the freedom to reject the patterns of this world that try to dictate our lives. Pray for the lenses to start seeing the freedom that God is offering you through Christian community.  

This week’s devotional reflections have been drawn from the book, Unexpected Gifts: Discovering the Way of Community by Christopher Heuertz