We can do more together.

What does being a part of a community mean to you?  I have been a part of a number of communities over the years: PLU, my FLBC camp family and my LVC fellow volunteers are among the richest community experiences of my recent years. When we are united by something bigger than ourselves, we are woven together with a common thread that provides a very unique human connection. 
 
This Sunday at Holy Trinity, we talked a lot about community in the context of the Good Shepherd story from John's gospel.  The word that kept reappearing in the sermon was to gather.  Thinking in terms of gathering in a community of faith makes it feel less institutionalized. The Good Shepherd gathers his sheep together, he doesn't organize them.  When we gather, we are pulled together with a voice that tells us that we are enough, and we are called to an abundant life.  Our lives are made up of a series of choices of how we will spend our time, our money, and what we prioritize.  These choices become competing planes for our identity.  Too often, we focus on what we are lacking to complete our life checklist.  It seems like no matter what we do will never be sufficient; as individuals we can't do it all.  And that is the beauty of community!  When we are strung together in the communities that God calls us to, we are enough, we can live more abundantly.  When we gather in community, we can do more together and we can be more creative together. 

When I think about the most significant identity development that I have experienced in my life, it always seems to occur within a community setting.  This year has been a time of incredible internal growth.  My Twin Cities LVC network consists of 18 volunteers who are incredibly passionate people.  It seems like every conversation leads me to new questions and helps me seek out my own identity of who I want to be in this world.  Working with these volunteers reminds me that while the work can be exhausting and the impact might feel small, we all have something really powerful to contribute. As our pieces come together, the work of the whole community is what makes a difference, here in Minneapolis, in Minnesota, in America, and across the globe.  One of my last blogs touched on the big questions of service work that keep me awake at night sometimes, but I feel energized by the communities that I work in, and find hope as I watch small pieces come together to make one beautiful whole.

I really believe that gathering makes us who we are, whether we are with people who are like us or those who are different from us.  Being in community with others helps us to discover who we are and illuminates the change we can make in the world.