It was one of the rare beautiful days that we have had lately. The sun was shining and it was warm enough that five seniors in our youth group and I were eating lunch on the patio at SATCo. In trying to find some semblance of a theme for Youth Sunday in May, I was listening to their collective story of their time at Woodmont. Houston, Macy, Grace, Grace, and Emeline shared tales of weeklong lock-ins, read text messages that were older than one of my children, and relayed the highs and lows of their times together. I asked them why they had stayed. What made them stick around through the various changes that would have chased others away? I don’t remember who answered, but they said that they had stayed because of each other. That community, that group of friends was a safe place in a world of change, a solid rock in a churning sea.
Since the new year began, we have been doing a series called “Back to the Basics.” Our pastor has done a great job going over some of the basic building blocks of our faith. And as we wrap up that series, I want us to talk about community because it is one of the glues that hold those building blocks together. Community is the context from which most of scripture is told. The Bible is the story of a family, then tribes, then a nation, then a group of disciples, and then the early church. All of which makes sense. Community is unavoidable. You can try to do life alone, but that is nearly impossible. Relationships with other people are a fact of our reality.
