Whenever I hear stories of people living in intentional communities, having all things in common, and making decisions based on consensus I have two thoughts. One is that I genuinely admire them. It takes personal sacrifice and an attention to the other to make this work. And, the other is that I would never want to do that. I like my privacy, I like bein gable to make my own decisions and sometimes I like not having to take anyone else into consideration.
Well, even though we all don’t live in the same house or neighbourhood we are one Christian community working together in the home of Highlands United Church. Now we may not run the risk of getting stoned to deathlike poor old St. Stephen in the scripture for this week, but we will disappoint each other, harbour anger sometimes, get impatient, or disagree.
It is hard to live in community. There is no sugar coating that. It’s hard sometimes. And so why do we do it?
Because we have a bigger common goal (following Jesus), we have more love than disenchantment, the struggle makes the joy feel more earned, we accomplish more together than alone, we learn about who we are by brushing up against someone else. The list goes on.
The question we ponder during worship this week is “What is the cost of belonging to a community and what makes it worth it?”
What makes it worth it for you?
Julie