The sense of community in this second letter to the Corinthians is unmistakable. He starts with something we might expect: your sufferings can help others. Comfort can be passed along. Then he comes back to something far more difficult. In essence, he says, “that guy that hurt us? It’s time to help him heal.” Anyone who has gone through a church split or endured opposing groups within a church knows how difficult this can be. It’s much more our nature to side up with everyone who agrees with us and shoot down our opposition. Of course, this doesn’t build up the body of Christ. This should always be our goal in the church.