When Biblical Community Gets Even Better

What is Biblical Community? It's all the "...one another" verses being lived out together (see them below). It is the expression of Jesus command to love one another like He loves us. It's not just the Sunday morning connection of pew sitting believers,  it's more than that. It's the hanging out and praying together when the alcoholic spouse is AWOL on a binge. It's standing around a hospital bed with a family as the mother is going under the knife to remove cancer, uncertain of the outcome. It's weeping with a young mother who will never see her son again after a tragic accident.

Oh there are some times when community hangs out at the pot luck dinner to share some food and fun and maybe a devotional thought. But Biblical Community gets more real when we connect with hearts that have been ripped out by great disappointment; and when we lock eyes with eyes that are fiery red from regretful weeping about pain inflicted carelessly on loved ones; and when we have sympathy stomach pains, post-kick, because someone we love is doubled over at the shocking news of betrayal.

I like the way Joy Jordan Lake describes community in her book Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous

“Christian community, taken seriously, means suddenly you’re shouldering the tragedies, the abandonment, the grief of the people around you, just as they are shouldering yours.  Community means sharing each other’s joy and hope and healing. In a thousand ways, taking Jesus seriously makes life harder, tougher, uglier. 

And richer. Finer. Finally worth living.” 

(Kindle Location 368 from Why Jesus Makes Me Nervous by Joy Jordan Lake, Paraclete Press. Brewster, Mass)

So, enjoy the body of Christ when it's fun and full of laughter, but also embrace it when it is painful and risky to do so.  You will engage in something so much bigger than yourself... something eternal...something Good... something satisfying.

Here's a list I found of the "one another" verses. Try these in your Biblical community.

 (credit North Wake Church)