community: it all begins with us

I thought I would post a short little thought that I had today. While out and about today, I noticed a billboard from the United Way. It was big and yellow to catch one's eye and said "Community: It All Begins With You". I almost had a seizure when I read it. I thought, Community begins with you? That's a horrid thought or at least an incorrect one!

How interesting. Community, that is a gathering together of people who sacrifice themselves for the common good, begins with you. I guess that is America, though. It's all about me, regardless of it involving you or anyone else.

I beg to differ with the United Way, though. (Imagine that.) Community does not begin with you or me or any other single individual; it begins with us. It begins with each of us sacrificing ourselves for the community. Needs within the community are not met by one individual, they are met by the collective. Encouragement arises not from you or me, but from the group. While an individual is an important piece within a community, they are no more important than any other person. Community is about fellowship, love, friendship and support. Community (and church) is not about me in any way. Church is about Christ first, and us second. It's about a group of believers doing life together and sojourning together and preaching the gospel to a lost world together.

Let me close with this: Community: It All Begins With Us.

until Christ is formed in us...

mike