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Impacting Your Community // The Art of Living, Part 19
We were never made to be isolated individuals. We’re not hermit crabs – and yet so many people withdraw into their shells and live their lives like that. What does it mean to be a community?
During a recent trip to India there was a profound difference between Indian culture and western culture that really hit me between the eyes. The Indians, as with many Asian cultures, are much more family and community orientated than perhaps we westerners are. Community is such a powerful thing and that’s something about which we westerners living in so-called ‘developed economies’ frankly have a lot to learn about.
In my line of work I get to talk with a lot of people, lots, especially people who are Christians and who are either part of a local Church or not. Now Christians sometimes get all high and mighty about who they are and what they believe, most of us has seen that. I’ve seen Christians look down their noses at people who don’t believe what they do, which is all pretty sad really because anyone who calls themselves a Christian is supposed to love others as much as they love themselves. That’s what Jesus said.
Now in the west in countries like Australia and the US and the UK there’s something that Christians and Churches, many of them, simply aren’t good at. That thing is community. As I said it really strikes me what a powerful, powerful impact family and community have in countries like India.
Interestingly one of the things I noticed a complete absence of was billboards with scantily dressed women advertising whatever they’re advertising. Something you see rather a lot of around where I live. So I asked on of my Indian colleagues about this, why is that? Is it cultural, is it religious? What? This is what he said to me:
No it’s not so much religious, it’s something we all agree on because family is so very important to us here in India. We see that sort of thing as undermining the family so we’re against it.
See this attitude of family and the Indians are so incredibly family orientated as a people, has the power to influence even the behaviour of the advertising industry. Just wow! In the west we think more as individuals. Individual freedoms, individual beliefs, individual rights, individual this and that. Now to a point it’s of course great to have individual freedoms but in the eastern cultures people think far more collectively, as families, as communities and that brings a strong component of mutual responsibility, mutual respect.
Take either of those two models, extreme individualism or extreme collectivism and that’s not a good thing but I guess the point I’m trying to get to is that if my life and your life is going to have a real impact, if we’re going to leave a lasting legacy then a part of who we are needs to be about serving a community.
I want to come back to the concept of Church and whilst a lot of good things happen there, I see so many people struggling to find even genuine connection and community belonging to a Church and that’s sad. Whatever you may believe, whatever faith or belief system you may ascribe to, come on community is incredibly important.
Have you ever wondered what community really is? Well it’s not the complete subjugation of the individual; we are all individuals. No two people look alike except maybe a very rare set of identical twins but even then no two people have the same abilities, skills, experience, outlooks. Each one of us is unique and yet uniqueness was never meant to mean isolation, which is what individualism leads to for many.
Do you see the kind of paradox that emerges here? We’re created to be an individual and yet not in isolation, in community and community doesn’t work if it doesn’t accept, love and value the uniqueness of each individual in it. That doesn’t mean we have to say look everything that someone else does or says or believes or thinks is right, clearly there are times when in community people do do the wrong thing and that’s where community brings a sense of mutual obligation into play.
Can I ask you something? What part do you play in your community? How do you contribute to your community? Do other people benefit from your uniqueness in a relationship of genuine family and community? Because if not then I don’t believe you’re living the life you were made to live.
None of us was ever made to live in isolation yet I see so many people, maybe bruised or hurt or injured by others, withdrawing into their shells kind of like a hermit crab as though that’s the solution to anything. Community is laughing and crying together. Community is sharing the ups and the downs. Community is serving each other and benefiting from each other and benefiting from serving one another.
The most beautiful picture I’ve ever come across of this community thing is a picture I find in the Bible, in the New Testament and it uses the metaphor of a body to represent community. Have a listen, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning at verse 15:
If the foot would say because I’m not a hand I don’t belong to the body that wouldn’t make sense, that wouldn’t make it any less a part of the body and if the ear was to say, because I’m not an eye I don’t belong to the body that wouldn’t make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing where would the sense of smell be? But as it is God arranged the members of the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member where would the body be? But as it is there are many members yet one body.
The eye can’t say to the hand, I don’t need you nor again the head to the feet, I don’t need you. On the contrary the members of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable and those members of the body that we think less honourable, we clothe with greater honour and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect whereas our more respectable members don’t need any of this.
But God has so arranged the body, giving greater honour to the inferior members that there maybe no dissension within the body but the members may have the same care for one another because if one member suffers all suffer together with it, if one member is honoured then all should rejoice together with it.
Beautiful picture. Can I ask you? What part are you playing in your community, your local neighbourhood, maybe your block of apartments? Do you serve the person in need next door? Do you use your skills as an accountant to manage the finances of the apartment block where you live? Anyone who wants to have an impact in this world needs to be part of their community, serving it and benefiting from it.
The problem is that too often we’re too busy worrying about ourselves. Too often we’re too concerned about who’s on top, who’s got the best reputation, who’s going to get the accolades, the most money, the nicest house, the most well adjusted children, you know all that stuff.
Greatness isn’t about winning it’s about losing. Being first is really about being the last. That’s what Jesus said. In setting straight the religious leaders of His day who for the most part were hypocrites, who manipulated common people in the name of God and religion, this is what Jesus said, Matthew chapter 23 beginning at verse 11:
The greatest among you will be a servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Do you want to live a life of impact? Do you want to live a life that will have people remembering you when you’re gone with fondness, with a sense of gratitude for the impact you had in their lives? Then it is time to focus on your community.
How could you serve? How can you make a difference? Is there sacrifice involved? Yeah of course there is but at the end of the day there’s nothing so satisfying as using the unique gifts that you’ve been given to serve others even when that serving is hard. That’s what community is.
God made us not as loners, not as hermit crabs to live our life in isolation, He made us to be social beings and community creatures and if perhaps you’re one of those people who’s forgotten what community is, whether in a Church setting or frankly in any other setting, maybe today’s the day to rethink that, maybe today’s the day to engage, to become part of, to serve, to sacrifice for your community.
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By Berni DymetWe were never made to be isolated individuals. We’re not hermit crabs – and yet so many people withdraw into their shells and live their lives like that. What does it mean to be a community?
During a recent trip to India there was a profound difference between Indian culture and western culture that really hit me between the eyes. The Indians, as with many Asian cultures, are much more family and community orientated than perhaps we westerners are. Community is such a powerful thing and that’s something about which we westerners living in so-called ‘developed economies’ frankly have a lot to learn about.
In my line of work I get to talk with a lot of people, lots, especially people who are Christians and who are either part of a local Church or not. Now Christians sometimes get all high and mighty about who they are and what they believe, most of us has seen that. I’ve seen Christians look down their noses at people who don’t believe what they do, which is all pretty sad really because anyone who calls themselves a Christian is supposed to love others as much as they love themselves. That’s what Jesus said.
Now in the west in countries like Australia and the US and the UK there’s something that Christians and Churches, many of them, simply aren’t good at. That thing is community. As I said it really strikes me what a powerful, powerful impact family and community have in countries like India.
Interestingly one of the things I noticed a complete absence of was billboards with scantily dressed women advertising whatever they’re advertising. Something you see rather a lot of around where I live. So I asked on of my Indian colleagues about this, why is that? Is it cultural, is it religious? What? This is what he said to me:
No it’s not so much religious, it’s something we all agree on because family is so very important to us here in India. We see that sort of thing as undermining the family so we’re against it.
See this attitude of family and the Indians are so incredibly family orientated as a people, has the power to influence even the behaviour of the advertising industry. Just wow! In the west we think more as individuals. Individual freedoms, individual beliefs, individual rights, individual this and that. Now to a point it’s of course great to have individual freedoms but in the eastern cultures people think far more collectively, as families, as communities and that brings a strong component of mutual responsibility, mutual respect.
Take either of those two models, extreme individualism or extreme collectivism and that’s not a good thing but I guess the point I’m trying to get to is that if my life and your life is going to have a real impact, if we’re going to leave a lasting legacy then a part of who we are needs to be about serving a community.
I want to come back to the concept of Church and whilst a lot of good things happen there, I see so many people struggling to find even genuine connection and community belonging to a Church and that’s sad. Whatever you may believe, whatever faith or belief system you may ascribe to, come on community is incredibly important.
Have you ever wondered what community really is? Well it’s not the complete subjugation of the individual; we are all individuals. No two people look alike except maybe a very rare set of identical twins but even then no two people have the same abilities, skills, experience, outlooks. Each one of us is unique and yet uniqueness was never meant to mean isolation, which is what individualism leads to for many.
Do you see the kind of paradox that emerges here? We’re created to be an individual and yet not in isolation, in community and community doesn’t work if it doesn’t accept, love and value the uniqueness of each individual in it. That doesn’t mean we have to say look everything that someone else does or says or believes or thinks is right, clearly there are times when in community people do do the wrong thing and that’s where community brings a sense of mutual obligation into play.
Can I ask you something? What part do you play in your community? How do you contribute to your community? Do other people benefit from your uniqueness in a relationship of genuine family and community? Because if not then I don’t believe you’re living the life you were made to live.
None of us was ever made to live in isolation yet I see so many people, maybe bruised or hurt or injured by others, withdrawing into their shells kind of like a hermit crab as though that’s the solution to anything. Community is laughing and crying together. Community is sharing the ups and the downs. Community is serving each other and benefiting from each other and benefiting from serving one another.
The most beautiful picture I’ve ever come across of this community thing is a picture I find in the Bible, in the New Testament and it uses the metaphor of a body to represent community. Have a listen, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning at verse 15:
If the foot would say because I’m not a hand I don’t belong to the body that wouldn’t make sense, that wouldn’t make it any less a part of the body and if the ear was to say, because I’m not an eye I don’t belong to the body that wouldn’t make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing where would the sense of smell be? But as it is God arranged the members of the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member where would the body be? But as it is there are many members yet one body.
The eye can’t say to the hand, I don’t need you nor again the head to the feet, I don’t need you. On the contrary the members of the body that seem to be weaker are in fact indispensable and those members of the body that we think less honourable, we clothe with greater honour and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect whereas our more respectable members don’t need any of this.
But God has so arranged the body, giving greater honour to the inferior members that there maybe no dissension within the body but the members may have the same care for one another because if one member suffers all suffer together with it, if one member is honoured then all should rejoice together with it.
Beautiful picture. Can I ask you? What part are you playing in your community, your local neighbourhood, maybe your block of apartments? Do you serve the person in need next door? Do you use your skills as an accountant to manage the finances of the apartment block where you live? Anyone who wants to have an impact in this world needs to be part of their community, serving it and benefiting from it.
The problem is that too often we’re too busy worrying about ourselves. Too often we’re too concerned about who’s on top, who’s got the best reputation, who’s going to get the accolades, the most money, the nicest house, the most well adjusted children, you know all that stuff.
Greatness isn’t about winning it’s about losing. Being first is really about being the last. That’s what Jesus said. In setting straight the religious leaders of His day who for the most part were hypocrites, who manipulated common people in the name of God and religion, this is what Jesus said, Matthew chapter 23 beginning at verse 11:
The greatest among you will be a servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Do you want to live a life of impact? Do you want to live a life that will have people remembering you when you’re gone with fondness, with a sense of gratitude for the impact you had in their lives? Then it is time to focus on your community.
How could you serve? How can you make a difference? Is there sacrifice involved? Yeah of course there is but at the end of the day there’s nothing so satisfying as using the unique gifts that you’ve been given to serve others even when that serving is hard. That’s what community is.
God made us not as loners, not as hermit crabs to live our life in isolation, He made us to be social beings and community creatures and if perhaps you’re one of those people who’s forgotten what community is, whether in a Church setting or frankly in any other setting, maybe today’s the day to rethink that, maybe today’s the day to engage, to become part of, to serve, to sacrifice for your community.