The Justice of Community

Community Gardening 9/4/10


Right now, on planet earth there are more people here than ever before.

Over 6 Billion people inhabit this place...

Here in America, and even more so in the city, there is someone always around you. Whether thats in the house to your right or left, the person on the street corner, the guy in the drive-through, the older man always on his porch, or the person you hear singing above your apartment.

There are people everywhere.

The baffling thing is that depression rates are at their highest now as-well, and increasingly becoming higher. And while there are several reasons one can have depression, probably the most prevalent one is the lack of healthy community... and for some, community at all.

It's amazing we can live in a world so full of people and yet there be so much loneliness, so many people alone. Living, driving, working all in our own boxes.

Scripture talks to us over and over again about our responsibilities to the lonely. Many times it sounds something like this: Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. Isa. 1:17

There are a lot of people suffering against the oppression of being alone, and who is fighting for them? Who is stepping in for them? The Christian call is a call to loving action on behalf of those such as the orphan and the widow. To step in the gap for those who are alone and crying out.

To see the kingdom of heaven break into our lives through loving healthy community...

So the question then becomes how do we as Christians, respond to the call to enact loving community, in a culture where there is giant potential, and yet individualism holds such a challenging grip on our lives...

Healthy community will require persistent creativity.

The Community Cookout 8/28/10