I’ve been reminded repeatedly this week that we were made for community. However, the kind of community we need most in our current circumstance (that is, living imperfect lives in an imperfect world) is the kind of community most of us are least likely to seek out or embrace when it is offered to us. We need the friendship and fellow-traveling of people who are willing to tell us what we really need: where our blind spots are, and just how much danger lurks in them, and how we can change.
I’ve been in so many situations in the past 5 days where that sort of community was needed that there are at least a handful of people who might read this and say “He’s talking about me! How dare he!” I’m not talking about you; I’m talking about us. Because I need that community as much as you do. I need someone I trust to actually want the best for me who is also able to tell me where I’m accepting less than the best, and how it’s impacting all of us. I need to know that person is going to keep loving me, even if I don’t change right away, even if I can’t change right away. I need to know that person loves me unconditionally.
If we’re doing it right, the church is supposed to be that sort of community. I hope you have that kind of community in your life.
Brandon Woosley 