Community, Part 3

Community, Part 3

For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.[1]

When we think of community we generally assume a group held together by a common connection in space and time. In other words, communities are often made up of people near to each other geographically (in space) and alive during the same time period. Jesus’ words, “…where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them,” hint that communities, however, are not limited by boundaries of space or time. We can gather today and have one who died 2000 years ago and lived across the planet from us be in community with us. There is a mystical bond to community that transcends time.

Many churches today recognize and celebrate a community of saints – former church members who have passed from this life. They affirm and believe that a community of souls from times past laid and continue to support key foundations from which the church has arisen. That is another example of a community transcending time. Those with similar interests and beliefs from the past form the traditions that become the pillars upon which a church or other community stands. In the United Methodist denomination, four such pillars are recognized by which one can discern truth: scripture, experience, reason, and tradition,the latter of which is formed in community over time.

Considered in this way, a community is not simply a three-dimensional phenomenon but consists of layers of experience built upon each other stretching from the distant past, influencing today’s experience, and shaping a yet unknown future. As such, we can legitimately be in community with Jesus, the Buddha, Gandhi, or other admired ancestors regardless of our present location in space or time. Not only does community have layers in time, but its tentacles also span vast distances in space so we can be a part of community that includes members from distant points on earth. I experience this regularly with members of various communities of mine that live hundreds or thousands of miles away: people I haven’t seen in decades, that have long-since died, or that were never in my physical presence that I feel as close to as ever through our shared community. It is the common interest that formed the community that holds its essential nature, not the proximity of its members in space and/or time. Community is not only transcendent; it is eternal.

Because it involves others, community involvement is often a movement away from or emerging from our inner being. Contemplation, silent prayer, and time in solitude and reflection are movements toward or deeper into our inner being. Considered in this way, our life experiences are like breathing – as we inhale, we draw in what is external to ourselves; as we exhale, we surrender what is within out into the world around us. Our life experiences occur in the movement of our conscious attention from inside to outside to inside. We receive as we inhale; we give as we exhale; and both movements are complementary and necessary for life to continue.

Jesus balanced his time between being in community with others – working externally – and being alone with God. They are not separate activities so much as different foci of our conscious attention. Like the positive and negative poles required for electricity to flow, attention directed inward lays the groundwork for attention directed outward which then requires a regrouping or recentering movement inward. And so it goes. One pole empowers and necessitates the other. To be entirely focused inward or outward is as impossible as being a pendulum that only swings one way – or that does not swing at all. If there is no movement, there is no life.

Some people equate an external focus with extraversion. Although there are some surface similarities, alternating the focus of our conscious attention is not a personality trait but a structural necessity for life as we know it. And if we cannot be comfortable with one end, our life experience will be perpetually out of balance. It is from our time focused inward that the gifts we project outward into our communities emerge. And our communities provide the safety and purpose within which we can turn inward to refuel and rebalance.

The boundaries of community cannot be contained by space or time. Communities, like the souls populating them, are eternal and transcendent. They may change and grow in space and time, but their essential nature – the purpose around which they formed – remains. And as community boundaries are allowed to expand to include additional expressions of other essential natures, they become ever more inclusive. Jesus sought to break down the prejudicial barriers between families, sects, religions, and ethnicities in order to form a more loving, accepting, and inclusive community – up to and including the ends of the earth in both space and time. That was his vision for bringing heaven to earth.

This is the 33^rd in a series titled Crucifying Christianity, Resurrecting the Way.Life Notes are my explorations into mysteries that interest me. They are invitations for readers to explore more deeply into life’s mysteries. Engage with me or explore contemplative spiritual direction at ghildenbrand@outlook.com.

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[1] Matthew 18:20