The Power of Community

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25) 
 
There is something very powerful about community, especially the “church community.” In large sprawling communities, and in towns that don’t even have a blinking traffic signal, all have pockets of caring, faithful children of the Living God. It is in those small units of care that real ministry takes place. I just watched and felt it this week.  
 
I am home now in my den writing this, but I felt just at home this last week in the company of my “second family” as we grieved the passing and celebrated the life of my “second mom.” Finding joy during sorrow is easier than you can imagine. Although we lost a loved one for now, we all gained hours of laughter (which you know is good for the soul), as we went through pages of pictures from the past.  
 
My wife told me that she hadn’t heard me laugh that hard in years. Maybe the laughter came from the intense pain I was feeling deep within that needed to be released. Maybe the belly-laughs came from the overwhelming knowledge that my image and those of my children and friends from yesterday were worthy to be kept and remembered. Regardless, we found joy in riding the tsunami waves of grief…and we rode them together! 
  
Other people rode with us. Their church family lavished love with flowers and food that kept coming like the never-ending surge of the surf. The members of their church family verbalized waves of encouragement and deeply felt expressions of sorrow around my second family, without an organizational plan to do so.  
 
My family was walking the lonely grounds of grief, but we were never truly alone. The Lord was there through the tender words and actions of His children on call. He was there in a double portion! They cried with us and laughed with us, as we celebrated a life well lived. My “second mom” knew how to love with quiet strength. There is something overwhelmingly wonderful about the fellowship of Christ’s body, the church, expressing love. 
  
As we said our goodbyes, I wept again as I hugged my “little brother.” I kissed the forehead of the man who rescued me, in more ways than I can count, at 11 years old. I thought I was “wept-out,” but I guess not. I have no fear for them as they find their new normal in the days ahead. They have such a fabulous church family; they will continue to surround them with the tangible hands of Jesus in action. I am reminded today of what Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given unto you…” 
 
What they have been receiving is the very thing they have been doing for decades themselves, giving. The love that they have given away to others is being returned in manifold proportions, just when they needed it most.  That’s the power of community. You don’t experience it unless you have one, and if you do, you know its power!