http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28156838/?GT1=43001

please read the article above.

many people would love to explain to you what community within the family of God really means. the analogy of a body of Christ is frequently used as an explanation, but it is not often understood. if we examine the functioning of the early church, we see that they lived communally -- not just "in community," having a building that they came to once or twice a week, but daily gathering together, worshipping together and loving God and each other in one accord. this was not a matter of picking a congregation, but a matter of self-sacrifice. these early church believers did everything together -- their possessions were communal, their eating times were as well; the idea of community in the early church was much less of the religious extracurricular that seems to exist today; it was LIFE. "if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another..." (1 John 1:7)

this news story of a man who has lost his family, those who are most precious and dear to him, spoke to my heart and I saw Jesus in it, even from just skimming the article title. I cried as I watched the video of him at a press conference. there are two main things I gleaned from this:

1. unlike so many today in our litigation-obsessed culture, this man did not blame the pilot, who was apparently safe and well after the crash. he even prayed that the pilot "would not suffer"... how often do we actually pray for the well being of those who hurt us (however unintentionally it might be)? the ability he has -- an ability that I will attribute to God, because nothing else makes sense -- to look past his own misfortune and hope for the comfort of someone who has devastated his hopes for the future is, to me, a pleasing aroma in the midst of the stench of hate that is so common in tragic, terrible circumstances like this. it is so much more common to see a person become venemous and hateful after the loss of a precious loved one (Cindy Sheehan, anybody?), much less a whole family. simply being forgiving of the pilot and respectful of the government speaks volumes to me, and hopefully to others as well.
2. the article documents a moment where the man is surrounded by his church family, and asks how he is supposed to go on without his family. I have to ask: what would you do if this were you? (I am asking myself this question, also.) I can tell you right now that were I married and my husband, mother-in-law and two children died, I would not want to have my current church's arms to fall back on. though I know there are wonderful, God-fearing people there, I do not trust them enough to ask, "what do I do now?" I wish that it were different. I wish that I felt like I knew much about any of them, but I don't. I have never been to my pastor's house, and the only reason I've had a real conversation with him is because I have been on the worship team. but the real contention point is that being nice and acknowledging God isn't what community is about. there has to be a bigger unifier than that, and I know nothing about people's relationships with God, and they know nothing of mine. of course, these things can be known in time, but would you even be willing to invest in it? wouldn't it be easier to go into hermit mode, get mad at God and everyone else, and decide that the world sucks and you want nothing to do with it? and while you're at it, wouldn't it be easier if you just decided that it hurts too much to love that much and lose people who are precious to you?

obviously I might be making assumptions here about this man's credibility as a believer, but I don't really think I am. I praise God for people who will buck the norm and let Jesus shine through them, because it doesn't happen too often, even in the Christian community.

and simultaneously, I continue praying for myself and those precious to me and for the church around the world, that we will have real community, hearts that are really like Jesus', and not resort to the world's standard of community. we are not a club that meets together every so often because we support a common cause. we experience life when we experience community as the early church did, and as Jesus intended it to exist. God help us in pursuit of that community; it is far too hard to come by, and far too underrated as well.