Saturday

I am finalizing my sermon on Why Church: Community. As I was at the office, I had some time to spare and began to explore some of the literature that was out in the Narthex. As I was doing this, I came across Alive Now the Jan/Feb 2010 issue which was on shaping community. Sometimes when I have ideas about where I am being led by God regarding the sermon, He can surprise me with something new to reflect on. Unfortunately, I don't have unlimited time. So I am going to share some of what was in the literature that was about community that struck me with some truth. Another aside is that today is Patriot Day remembering 9/11. I would hope that every day is patriot day but this needs to be a day of prayer and remembrance of those whose lives were lost and those lives who were forever changed.

Here are some quotes:
"What passes for community [in the modern world] is, 'You stay out of my life, and in exchange for that I'll stay out of your life, and we'll call that community." Will Willimon
"We might define true community as that place where the person you least want to live with lives!" Parker Palmer
"We consider a person who takes no interest in the state not as harmless, but as useless." Pericles
"We are being asked to become transforming agents within human society rather than revolutionary ones acting outside it." Esther de Waal.

May this day be one of remembrance, prayer, and one of remembering community in a nation of individualism.