Why Community?
Being in authentic, long-lasting community is one of the most important and humanizing things we can do. In isolation, we can never live up to our full potential. We need each other! As Christians, building and sustaining this kind of community is not only incredibly valuable, it’s essential. It’s what nourishes and upholds us; it’s a foundation of our faith.
Jesus’ first stop on his journey to begin his ministry was to create a community–he called Andrew and Peter to “come and see” (John 1:39) where he was going and what he was doing. One or two at a time, he built a group of people that would work alongside him, support him, and help him along his way. If even Jesus did not work or live in isolation, then perhaps neither should we.
Being in a healthy community with others is what sustains us as humans, and what emboldens us as Christians. We hold one another up as we grieve, we celebrate each other’s wins, and we learn how to serve together. However, this kind of community isn’t so easily accomplished.
Building Healthy Christian Community Requires Much
Building a healthy community requires much from us. Even healthy, experienced leadership cannot manage it on their own. It requires something of everyone:
- It requires vulnerability and courage. To be in community is to truly involve yourself in the lives of others: their pains, their burdens, and their sorrows. Their joys, their celebrations, and their new beginnings! “Family is a tough gig,” our Senior Pastor, Rev. Cheryl Kimble, often says. Becoming family with one another means we have to be honest with each other. We have to hold one another accountable, even when it’s uncomfortable. We have to choose to love each other, even if we don’t fully understand where another is coming from. In an age of social media, it’s easy to broadcast the version of your life you want people to see, without anyone actually ever knowing you. You cannot hide from true community–that kind of community sees you, but only if you allow them to.
- It requires commitment: to be together and to engage in self-sacrifice. Being in community means we have to decide to be together. We show up for each other: at church, at games, at the hospital. We commit ourselves to having fun together and supporting each other. Additionally, we must give of ourselves. We sacrifice our time, our comfort, to include others and build something meaningful.
- It requires creativity. Authentic community isn’t so easy to come by anymore. As social media changes our style of communication, we have to reinvent the wheel, in some ways. How do we draw people in? How do we maintain the beautiful community we already have? How do we foster new growth? These are the questions every church is asking right now.
So Highland Park Tried Something New
So on Sunday, September 29, 2024, The Church at Highland Park worshipped in a way they never had before. We began in Sapp Hall instead of our beautiful sanctuary. We began our service with these opening words, speaking them in unison:
“Today we celebrate the community we’ve found here. As we worship, help us to discern our place. God, Open our hearts and eyes to hear and see you clearly.”
And that’s what we did! We walked from room to room in the church, starting with the Children’s Sermon in the nursery. Next, we stood together and listened to our children talk about community, and how we can be a part of it. Moving toward the Multi-Purpose Room, we put papers into the offering plates, which we wrote on, sharing how we might serve God through The Church at Highland Park over the next year rather than monetary donations. We walked to the Choir Room, where we enjoyed our choir’s anthem, “He Will Keep You”, followed by a hard-hitting, but gracious, homily from Rev. Cheryl Kimble, entitled “Be Transformed” out of Romans 12:1-8. She pointed right to our responsibility as the church, saying:
“We’re each created uniquely and we each carry different loads, but we’re not supposed to travel this road alone. The church is important in God’s work, and it takes us to be the church.” – Rev. Cheryl Kimble
Afterwards, we filed through our beautiful Teague Chapel to share in the communal spiritual practice of Communion. Afterwards, we closed our service back in Sapp Hall with a poignant closing hymn: “Come All Christians, Be Committed”.
Community Always Needs a Little Fun!
Following Worship, we stayed in Sapp Hall for our Community Fair. Throughout the room, there was a table for each of our Service Groups, and each person received an information booklet that told them the essential about each one.
There was a table for the Administration, Christian Education, Missions, Outreach and Communication, Servant, and Worship Service Groups. At these tables, there were sign ups for their committee and events, and behind the table sat that Service Group’s Chair. In between, were games like Ring Toss, miniature Down the Clown, Giant Jenga, Basket Toss, Ladders, and Tin Can Alley. But importantly, if you signed up for something, you received a green ticket that entitled you a chance to dunk one of our pastors, Rev. Cheryl Kimble or Rev. Masyn Evans-Clements! They were thoroughly drenched by 1:30pm.
Looking Forward
As the time of quilting and bridge clubs passes, and the age of social media continues to unfold, we turn to God to guide us toward new and innovative ways to build this kind of community; we ask God to give us a renewed sense of how we might build and maintain rooted, authentic relationships with each other. Deep relationships that seek to build one another up and include those who have long been excluded from Christian Community.
We ended the Worship with this benediction, which I offer you now:
“As we go from this place, remind us we belong to you, God. All you have given us, we return to you; and remind us that we belong to each other. All that we are, we give to one another. Amen.”
