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Premier Christian Radio Your voice of hope!
Luke 1:39 NLT
‘A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town…’
I’m currently wrestling with the question – to what degree do I need community? And what need has community of me? The context is that my Christian experience has been built around the primary purpose and importance of relationship, hence Church is the gathered, worshipping community. Within that community I give of myself as fully as possible and receive the best of everyone with whom I’m in community with. Problem one is that from our perspective, Katey and I experienced few benefits from such community on our journey. It felt very lonely and as if we had to work it out for ourselves.
Problem two, as I get older and explore the way of the hermit, I increasingly enjoy my own space, and despite continuing to seek community, find it more difficult to find my place in church and seem to lose friends more quickly than I find them. I have had to explore the extent to which I am not very nice to know, since I feel that I have offended some quite long-term relationships, since they no longer exist in any substantive way.
Mary has received a personal message, and a life-changing commission. Young and overwhelmed, she makes her way directly to her cousin, Elizabeth, who Gabriel had spoken of. She required some form of affirmation and confirmation of the angel’s message and her own act of simple obedience. The fact she had to make that decision on her own illustrates we have the competence to navigate transition points ourselves without the ratification of any committee. It is, perhaps, a sense of affirmation and confirmation I am seeking, and maybe this is not to be found in the gathered Church. There is some unlearning required about how I have chosen to understand Church and a recognition that God will entrust me with his call. This is, indeed, an aspect of individuation, and we all need to learn to take greater responsibility for ourselves.
QUESTION: How have you navigated the significant transition points in your life?
PRAYER: Lord, you set me in a family and made me a part of a people. Help me find my place as part of the body of Christ.
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