Posts Tagged ‘love’

… beautiful.

On my previous post, "Proximal.," Michael Rodden added a comment which included the following questions:

1./ What distinguishes a “functional” part from that of the “disfunctional”?

2./ What is presence in a community?

3./ What determines engagement in a community?

Casey Tigrett ‘s comment seems to address all these questions with his poignant description of community. He notes that the word most resembling what we call "community" is the Greek word "koinonia." Westerners frequently translate "koinonia" as "fellowship," which has unfortunately been most popularly understood as a quick way to refer to First Free Will Baptist Church’s Annual Pot-Luck Picnic. Casey properly described "koinonia" as "coming alongside another." So what distinguishes "functional" from disfunctional? Koinonia. What does it mean to be a presence in the community. Koinonia. What determines engagement in a community? Koinonia. One’s coming alongside of others in times of suffering is one’s functional and present engagement in his/her community.

My mind rushes back to the idea of proximity. Is it possible that we are really talking about two different things? If "place" has something to do with what we have called "community" should we rather be asking, "what does it mean to love our neighbors?" Is there a diffence betweeen one’s "neighbor" and one’s "community?"

Are those who decide not to accept the forgiveness and reconciliation to God offered through Jesus actually too broken to do so? Are those who refuse Jesus either incapable of valuing love, community, and relationship or in a state of dependency on something other than Jesus?

For those reading who are not followers of Jesus please do not be offended. I do not intend to label or categorize but value your comments as well.