Last night I was in a meeting with my mentor (one of the things required by the Compass program was a mentoring agreement) and the thing that she started out talking about was bringing up the importance of community, which we then discovered to be something that was a theme in the section we were on of a book we were looking at. So after the meeting, I went down to youth group and discovered that the theme of the night was...community.
Community is something that is extremely important in Christianity. In fact, C.S. Lewis once remarked that there were two things a person cannot be alone: married and a Christian. And having a community is vital to discovering your identity. It's when your personality, skills, abilities, etc. come out the most. Furthermore, the support of a community is immensely important in dealing with life, especially the stressful parts. And any part of life is automatically more stressful if you don't have community, if there isn't anyone to share it with, if there's the added strain of loneliness.
A friend of mine recently wrote that she is remembering that to have friends one must be a friend, and that it is important to love those who don't love you back, and to be warm and welcoming to those who turn away from you. The best way to be a part of community is to do what you can for the community. And if you care for others, they will also care for you.
Community is something that is extremely important in Christianity. In fact, C.S. Lewis once remarked that there were two things a person cannot be alone: married and a Christian. And having a community is vital to discovering your identity. It's when your personality, skills, abilities, etc. come out the most. Furthermore, the support of a community is immensely important in dealing with life, especially the stressful parts. And any part of life is automatically more stressful if you don't have community, if there isn't anyone to share it with, if there's the added strain of loneliness.
A friend of mine recently wrote that she is remembering that to have friends one must be a friend, and that it is important to love those who don't love you back, and to be warm and welcoming to those who turn away from you. The best way to be a part of community is to do what you can for the community. And if you care for others, they will also care for you.
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