Is Community a Spiritual Discipline?

The short answer is: yes.

Let’s face it, the last couple years have been challenging in ways we couldn’t have predicted. It feels like we’re finally coming out of the pandemic, so things should just go back to “normal”, right? As much as I hated the phrase “new normal” that was used earlier in the pandemic, I have to admit that normal isn’t the same as it was before.

It also seems like things should be getting a little easier again, yet in many ways they’re not. Yes, I can buy toilet paper without worrying about the shelves being empty and mask wearing is not required in most places. Yet getting back into the swing of things hasn’t felt as natural as I might have hoped.

Across the board in the different communities I’m involved in, both online and in person, there seems to be a higher incidence of serious, heavy life situations going on. Marriages in crisis, major health issues, emotional crises, death and grief…

It’s just… heavy.

How do we cope, whether we are the one in crisis or the one offering support and encouragement?

I think one key is to lean into community.

As a culture, we were already prone to isolation, even before COVID. We drove home, closed the garage door, disappeared into our houses, and hardly interacted with our neighbors. We buried ourselves in our phones and devices, having many online “friends and followers” but little in person, meaningful interaction.

Then COVID.

Suddenly we needed even more physical distance than we already had. We started going to church on a computer, we worked from home, and had meetings over zoom. Now we’re even more isolated than before. Even though the pandemic is letting up, many people still work from home. We’ve discovered that Zoom meetings are sometimes much more convenient, and going to church online is much easier than dragging the kids out the door on Sunday morning.

Some of those things are good things, or at least have a positive side to them. I would much rather conduct a meeting over Zoom than have to leave my kids at home, drive all the way to church, then drive all the way home. The availability of having church online is great when we live farther away or are sick and can’t be in person. But I think we need to pick and choose wisely.

We need community. We need each other. We need to be physically present, face to face WITH each other. We need to give and receive hugs and smiles and look each other in the eye without a screen in the middle. We need home groups in person and retreats and social events. We need to go out to coffee with each other and sit and pray with each other and listen. We need to BE with one another.

Sometimes being in community is intimidating. It’s hard to be vulnerable. For some it was more comfortable to stay home. But God created us to need one another.

Community helps us to feel connected and grounded. Relationships can hold us accountable and encourage us to be more. We hear what others are doing and it spurs us on to pursue walking with God and living healthy lives - spiritually, physically, and emotionally. We can learn from each other and find comfort and support. Being in community is a core piece of growing in our faith.

Community is also where we serve one another. It’s where we see how others are struggling and we pray for them and help carry their burdens. It’s where we exercise the gifts that God has given us for the purpose of building each other up. If we’re not in community, we can’t do that.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25

How is God encouraging you to lean into community this spring?