Luke Parrott

Wishful Images

Dietrich Bonhoeffer captured it well when he said that community can be easily shattered when it lives on the basis of a "wishful image".  We all bring our own hopes and perceptions of what we think community should look like.  Often times what we bring to the table is less about what God wants to accomplish and more about what we want to get out of the community.

It's when we lay down our own wishful dreams that we free God to accomplish what he desires.  The longer we hold on to our own dreams, the more we become a stumbling block to what God is creating.

Here at K-Colorado we are not sure what God wants to do this summer with the 120 staff and 1,000 kampers that come through these gates.  But we are working right now to become an organic community that is free to love, free to live, free to forgive, and free to be the breath of God.  We are learning what community is...and also what it is not. 

It is not utopia.  It is not a place where problems do not arise.  It is not a place where people do not have burdens.  It is not a place where conflict does not exist.

It is a place where we become brothers and sisters through bearing each others burdens.  Choosing to listen.  Choosing to enter the broken lives around us.  Choosing to be broken before others with our own struggles.  Choosing to bear with one another in love.  Choosing to tolerate and love the differences within each other. 

We are working hard this week to learn more about community.  But we must know that our commonality runs deeper than our passion for kids and the outdoors.  The only glue that will keep us together is Jesus himself.  He restored us from the hostility that was between us and God.  He also restored us from the hostility between each man. 

So He must be our center as we find commonality and embrace community.

Community is Usually Not What You Think It Is.

At some point, we need to finally lay to rest the dreams, ideas, and wishful images we have of what community should be. 

All of us have what Bonhoeffer calls a "wishful image" of what Christian community should look like.  Until we lay aside our dreams, we are a hindrance to the organic development of community that Christ desires to grow in and through us.  In fact, to hold on to our dreams in the long run is to become a destroyer and crippler of community development.

An excerpt from Bonhoeffer's Life Together:

"Only that community which enters into the experience of this great disillusionment with all its unpleasant and evil symptoms begins to be what it should be in God's sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it.  The sooner this moment of disillusionment comes over the individual and the community, the better for both.  However, a community that cannot bear and cannot survive such disillusionment, clinging instead to its idealized image when that should be done away with, loses at the same time the promise of a durable Christian community...God has already laid the only foundation of our community, because God has united us in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that life together with other Christians, not as those who make demands, but as those who thankfully receive."

As a culture, we have become fascinated with the idea of community.  We desire to cultivate it now in multiple ways.  Through house churches, communes, and small groups.  We long to be interconnected in an age where we can quickly become just a number in the crowd or a profile on another homepage.  We want more than just the text messages from a friend.  More than just the twitter from those we follow.  We want to be known.  And we also want to live in a broken world that is being healed by the community of Christ-minded people around us.

But with that desire, we carry false expectations.  They lead to disappointment and discouragement and frustration.  They also lead the whole flock of sheep astray because the Shepherd has something else in mind.

In our struggle to find community, we need to hold loosely to our own ideals.  When God brings his people together, he likes to orchestrate things that we never thought possible.  He likes to pull off the unexpected.  Accomplish the unthinkable.  Achieve ends of which finite man is incapable.

But for Him to do this, we must lay aside our dreams and ideals of community. 

Whatever community you find yourself in today, be willing to release your dreams.

And in so doing, you will free God to work in his beautiful, unpredictable, organic, jazz-shaped fashion.

The Gift of Community

Do you ever long for community?  Long to be known?  Long to be a part of a group of people with whom you can share your love of Jesus?

Community is a gift.  It is not always promised to us.  Some phases of our lives seem to be full of joy and close community.  Other phases seem to bring us into isolation with what seems like no fellow believers around us.

I have several friends in Europe who feel this way.  I also know many high school students feel this way.  I was one of them and I prayed a lot my freshman year for a group of fellas who could walk through high school leaning on each other.  The Lord gave me that gift. 

The world of Jesus followers are experiencing community in various degrees today.

Some taste it everyday.

Some taste it once a week on a Sunday.

Some find the fellowship within their own families.  Some are not as blessed to have this experience.

Some taste it only in an email, phone call, or good old fashioned letter sent from time to time.

Some only taste it when that certain relative is able to trek out to the village and visit.

Some will find it today on their lunch break.

We must never forget that God does not always provide us with the gift of community.  And so when we do have a good community, we need to be so grateful for it.

This summer I am going to join the Kanakuk Colorado community.  But I am also leaving the Denver K-Life community.  The Colorado Community Church family.  The community of friends I have in Denver whom I love so much.

Today I am thankful for the gift of community. 

The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  But as always, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

What Creates Community?

I think you can answer this question in many ways. 

Proximity. 
Shared experience. 
Like-mindedness. 
Tragedy. 
Food.
Mutual interest.

It's actually easier to answer the question, "What keeps us from experiencing community?"

That would be quite a grocery list.  Millions of things keep us from each other.  Most of all, our own selves.  Because man is prone to look out for only himself. 

But in Christ, we find community.  HE is what creates community.  Jesus Christ.  He is the glue.  He is the bridge to the heart of others.  He is the one that brings humanity together.  He restores us not only to God but also to each other.  He calls us to love not only God but also our neighbors and our enemies.  He is our peacemaker, restoring us to God and all humankind.  If you want world peace, you better want Jesus.  Otherwise, we have no reason, no desire to leave our own selves for the sake of the other.

Have you ever wondered how Christian groups can come together as strangers and connect as if they have been lifelong friends?  Their commonality is Christ.

It makes you wonder what other Christians are missing when they DON'T come together in unity.  Usually it's because we have false expectations about what christian community really is.  (I'll save that for a later post.)

Today, a group of K-Life students, staff, and leaders joined about 100 other people to help do some exterior house work on a poor neighborhood in downtown Denver.  As my group finished our landscaping job at Jeff's house, I noticed how shocked Jeff was that we did this.  He wanted to thank us, donate money, or do ANYTHING!  I asked myself, "Why would all these kids and I want to take our Saturday to do this?  And to have FUN doing it!"  I can only answer that by saying something inside me stirs me towards the needs of others.  That something is someone.

Consider today that without Jesus Christ community is impossible.  We are broken and divided without him.  He has broken down the barrier, united what was divided, and he Himself has become our peace.  (Ephesians 2:14) 

Jesus Christ alone is what creates community.  Everything else is secondary.

On Community

Our culture has a very poor understanding of community.  Our rampant individualism has caught up with us.  Community has no real value in our world.

We have no time for each other.  In fact, we think we don't need each other. 

Our world's are spread too wide and too thin.  We have too many facebook friends and not enough best friends.  We know too much of the world through the internet and not enough of the world through the eyes of our neighbors.

We are moving too fast to tell people how we think.  We are moving too quick to know how we feel. 

We are consuming mass information but have no time to digest any of it.  Only time to mildly regurgitate it.

Community is what defines us.  Community is what develops us.  We are in many ways a product of the community around us. 

If we lose community, we lose identity.

Maybe that's why we feel so alone.  So Lost.

The Family of Christ

A few weeks ago I sat in my office with a student after club as he downloaded some troubling things going on in his family.  I listened.  We prayed.  He cried a bit.  I felt a piece of his pain.  And then we hugged.  And then I said to him, "Thanks for sharing.  It's good to have family outside of your own family isn't it?"

Family.  That's what the body of Christ is.  That's the community Jesus talks about.  He sees things the way God intended them to be.  In His Kingdom Come, all of humankind see each other as family.

That's fresh on my mind after this holiday.  I saw my closest relatives.  I saw my old friends that are like family.  My buddies who have kids and want their kids to call me Uncle.  That's family.

Family is what we all want.  And when brokenness happens in our biological family, it's good to know we have a larger family that extends beyond the biological.  The Family of Christ.

I'm glad I was available to talk with this student after club.  I'm glad he was able to share some of his deepest pains with me.  I'm glad that he considers me as family.  Because we only share these things with those who we know, those we love, those we trust.

Those people are our family.  Who else do we need to extend the 'family of Christ' to this week?  Who needs to be known, to be loved, to receive trust? 

The family of Christ has no borders, no boundaries, no territories, no cliques, no partialities.  Let his love extend beyond your typical borders especially as this holiday settles in and family becomes the focus.  Let it expand outside of the arms of those who already know Jesus and have joined the family.

Ubuntu

It flies in the face of American individualism (which is not very 'community' friendly).  Individualism often leads to isolation and independence.  But what people need is intimacy and interdependence.  I keep hearing stories of Americans who feel ALONE.  It's such a hush hush topic.  But I'm with all of you out there that feel the loneliness.  If someone has to step up and be the first to say it...Allow me!  But maybe we need to start thinking about how our culture facilitates these feelings.

It's a Small World After All

A broad stroke view of our global community.

Why is community such a hot topic?

It seems like everywhere you go, people want to talk about community. They want to be in a community. They want to be connected. They want to be real. They want to find a culture of people that are authentic. They want to talk and discuss freely. They want to feel safe. They want to live life together.

But why are we so into this?

Could it be that community has been lost in America? Could it be that people don't have time for each other? That Americans lives are filled with too much to do and no time to just be? Could we be a nation of loners? Have we bought so much into the value of individualism that we've separated ourselves from each other? Have we lost our sense of need for each other?

I think I could sit down today and plan a lifestyle that has the appearance of complete independence. I could quit my job with K-Life and move into my own apartment. I could set up my office there and conduct all my business online. I could go to the grocery store and check out my own items without talking to anyone else. I could cook my own meals. I could even go to church online. I could live my life in cyberspace.

But in the end I would feel completely empty. Why? Because I need people. I needed to see my friends at church today. I needed to say Hi to Emery, a 5th grader I used to teach sunday school for. I needed to spend time playing soccer with some guys I don't know too well. I needed to relax and watch football with my roommates.

I need people. I know the value of Interdependence. I can't make it on my own. I can't even make it just Me and God. Even when things were perfect in the Garden and it was just Adam and God, God himself said,"it is not good for man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18).

Don't try to go this week alone. Live life with people. Don't just do your quiet time alone. Include a good friend in the mix this week. See how God uses your friend to speak to you as he does when you are alone with him and his Word.

Don't let your individuality lead to isolation.

Best advice my mentor ever gave me in college was to never wait for others to move towards you. Step out and move towards them else nothing will ever happen. I'll pass that word on to you. Pursue others. Move towards others.

Something is stirring here in Denver

I just shared an afternoon with my good buddy Jack who is looking for a job in urban development. He wants to be engaged in projects that provide a service to communities in need.

He wants his job to count for more.

I was on the phone with a buddy in his residency as an anesthesiologist. He chose this focus because it gives him the most freedom to travel and pursue medical missions.

He wants his job to count for more.

John is studying engineering up at CU. He built the loft in my basement. He's trying to figure out how to use this gift on a global scale to impact communities that need a helping hand.

He wants his future job to count for more.

Twice in the last week, one of our K-Life Leaders and his 2 small group high school seniors have met at the house. They are building a t-shirt company to raise funds and awareness of the 1 billion people who do not have access to clean water. Their funds are going directly to the building of wells in africa.

They want to utilize their gifts to count for more.

I could probably write several other stories about the energy that is surging through this town. People are dreaming big. They want to utilize their passions. They want it to be centered in their faith. They want it to have a global impact. They want it to answer both physical and spiritual needs.

Something is stirring here in Denver...