40 Days of Community: Week 1 in Awakenings

Some time ago I finished reading The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I was bored to tears with the first 40 pages of it, but plowed through to the end. As I read on the novel became more interesting but also more and more full of despair.

The narrator of the story, Jake Barnes, is American World War Veteran who works as a journalist in Paris. The novel is mostly about his interactions and travels with his American friends. Even when in the same town, they travel from restaurant to restaurant, eating, drinking coffee, and consuming some type of expensive alcohol.

Lady Brett Ashley is the hard-to-get love of Jake’s life. It’s a very twisted love he has for her—she flirts with Jake and expresses her “love” for him even while awaiting a divorce from her current husband so that she can marry another man, Mike Campbell, who spends most of the story drunk.

At the end of the work, having traveled with friends to Spain to watch the famous bullfighter Pedro Romero, Jake and Lady Brett find themselves together again. They have this conversation:

Jake says, “Some people have God.” “Quite a lot.”
Brett answers, “He never worked very well with me.”
Jake awkwardly changes the subject and says: “Should we have another Martini?”

The Sun Also Rises is all about the pursuits and values of Hemingway’s own life: women, wine, great food, music, parties, bullfights, traveling, cushy living arrangements. But the characters in this story are all miserable. God never “worked very well” with Lady Brett.

(The storyline is not just confined to this particular novel.) Despite all the pleasures Hemingway enjoyed in his own life, he, too, was depressed. And so 7 years after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, he shot himself.

He left behind a despairing note, which, edited of its expletive, reads: “Life is just one thing after another.”

Ernest Hemingway was one of the great minds of the 20th Century. Was he right? Is life just one thing after another?

And who are we? What on earth are we here for? Is life just one thing after another?

Now you don’t have to raise your hands on this, but how many of you believe this about life?

Or for those of you who don’t believe it, how many of you wonder sometimes?

And even if you don’t believe that life is just one thing after another… how many of you live as if that statement is true? How many of you, your life just feels like you’re running from one thing to the next? From waking up to a half-eaten breakfast because you were rushing out the door to catch the bus or a ride, to a long school day with class after class, to after-school extra-curricular activities, and from there back home to do homework, hang out on Facebook for a bit, and then go to sleep, only to get up the next day and start it all over again without a chance for so much as taking a breath and looking around you?

I want to all close your eyes and keep them closed until I tell you to open them.

Now, instead of the picture I just painted, I want you to imagine…

…a space where people notice your name and say hi to you when you walk into the room.
…a space where you feel safe, comfortable, and loved.
…a space where you can be who you know you are, not who you think other people want you to be.
Imagine ... a place where you can learn about God and how to follow Jesus in your day-to-day life.
…a space where you can eat meals together with people, and ask about each others’ day, and know there will be someone there to listen.

Keep your eyes closed, because we’re just getting started with this. Imagine…

…a place where you know that you don’t have to put on a smiley face just to make people happy, if stuff is really bad in your life, because you can share that with them without it being awkward or uncomfortable.
…a place where miracles happen and stuff that you just can’t explain happens on a regular basis.
…a place where people share things with each other, especially when there are members of the community in need.
…a place where God brings more and more people, a place where people who aren’t Christians can come and just be blown away by how much love people have for each other.
…a place where you and everyone else is accepted, no matter who you are, how you dress, what you look like, what your interests are.
…a place where there is no favoritism, and where groups of friends don’t turn into exclusive cliques.
…a place where people forgive each other when they hurt each other.
…a place where people take care of each other, in moments of joy and sadness.
…a place where people pray for each other.

You can have that. You can have that here. Do you want that? I want that. Do you want that?

You can open your eyes now.

That, my friends, is what we call community. And that is what this 40 Days of Community thing is all about: Taking 40 Days together to imagine together, to explore together, to study together, and to practice together making this sort of community you just imagined a reality, at Truro Church, and in The Upper Room.

In fact, that kind of community has been a reality before, so we know it can be a reality for us today. Open your Bibles to Acts 2, verses 42 through 47. Last school year we spent a bunch of time on this passage on Sunday nights exploring this theme of community together. As you read this passage, note some things you think that made this community strong. This is about the early Church, just after Jesus had died and was resurrected and then appeared again to his disciples and went back to heaven.

So what made this community strong? What sorts of things did they do together?

Over the next 6 weeks we’re going to be looking at community together right here in Awakenings. We’ll be teaching from Scripture what God says about how to build community like this together, and what sorts of things a community that follows Jesus should be doing together. So please make sure to bring your Bibles when you come up. We’re not going to do this to find out what Rick Warren or what Saddleback Church says about community, but to find out what the Bible says about community, so make sure to have yours with you each week. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am about this.

Our Small Groups (most of which meet Sunday afternoons before Youth Group) are going to be looking even more in-depth at this idea of community.

I also think that this community theme is where God is taking us right now as a Youth Group. Sure we’re doing this because the whole Church is and we want to do it together, but we said at the very first Youth Group this year that one of our Core Values—one of the things that matters most to us—is relationships. So that’s what we’re going to look at.

But I’m giving you fair warning. As great as a true community will be for you, it’s not just about you or how good it can be for you. It’s not just about what you can get from it. It’s about what you can give to it. Because a community can only be as loving as the individual people in that community. So this won’t be easy. And I’m not just saying that. Really building a community is hard work. Thankfully we have God to help us.

There are three things I want to tell you about community as we start this series that are very important for us all to understand if we are really going to try to make this kind of community here that we imagined.

1. Community doesn’t just happen—we have to try for it and work at it.

Everything that I described, everything that you imagined with your eyes closed, requires effort. We’ll look at this in more detail the next 6 weeks, but just about every time the Bible talks about community, it uses commands. Love one another. Care for one another. Serve one another. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

If you want this kind of community but just wait around for it, it will never happen. It requires all of us making an effort.

We talk in The Upper Room about community as having an Authentic Connection. It starts with being authentic, or real. If community doesn’t just happen and we all have to work for it, we have to start by being real, open, honest. Not putting on happy faces for each other when we’re not happy, or not saying something just because you think someone wants you to say it. Accepting people for who they really are, not for who we want them to be. Not feeling like you have to be a certain way or else people won’t like you.

2. Even though community is about other people, it starts with you.

If this is true, however, it means that you have to help make this culture, this community. If you want a place where you don’t have to put on a happy face if that’s not’s true, then don’t expect that from others. If you want a place where people genuinely care about how you’re doing, when you ask someone, “Hey, how’s it going?”, make sure you stick around long enough to find out how they’re really doing. If you want a place where people accept you for who you are, you have to accept others for who they are.

Look at I Thessalonians 5: 10-11? Another version says, “Jesus died for us so that we can live together with him…So encourage each other and give each other strength.” Encourage each other. Do you like to be encouraged? Make sure you’re doing that for other people. Do you need strength? Give strength to others when you can by being there for them.

Turn to Philippians 2:3-4, just a few pages to the left of Thessalonians.

Paul says here, it’s not just about you and what you want, but other what other people want. This has to start with an attitude change. Your attitude change. My attitude change. So community is about other people, but it starts with you.

3. Although building community can be difficult, we have God’s Holy Spirit to help us.

In fact, in Acts 2 that we were looking at, this community that was built, this love that was being shown to each other left and right, wasn’t the result of human beings trying really, really hard. They did have to try, but the only reason anything in that worked is that earlier in that chapter the Holy Spirit had just been poured out on them at Pentecost. Totally washed over all of them. It was God’s Holy Spirit that gave them the power and the strength and the courage to be a community.

And speaking of courage, as we seek to build this community, especially as we think about it during 40 Days of Community, let’s remember what God said to Joshua (1:9): “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

The end result of a healthy, loving community is very rewarding, and we were created for this kind of community, to be with others. We can’t live our lives on our own. It’s too hard. You all know this. But God has put us in this place, this community, that we can work together to build, so that in the end God is glorified.

Do you want that? I do. I definitely do.

Some Questions for Reflection:

1. Why is community important?

2. Where or when have you seen examples of true community?

3. What was your part in building that?

4. What can you yourself contribute to building The Upper Room and Truro Church as a community?

Workshop on being online, called "Be Safe."

An afternoon workshop attended by Abram, with notes. (These are extensive! But that's just my style.) Going now to debrief with team and eat dinner.

Josh Griffin, Manager of Purpose Driven Youth Ministry

He runs www.theforce.net, a Star Wars site.
His own personal blog is www.simplyjosh.com.

Don't not have Internet or myspace because there are bad things on there, but just be selective. There is a painfully dark side to it. But TVs have bad things, and we still have them; we just use discretion in what we watch.

How many times does "blog" or "myspace" appear in the Bible? None.

Web is a powerful tool for good and bad. Roughly 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 North Americans have a myspace account. Myspace is a profile, whereas a blog is something I have to say.

One reason myspace is so popular (friendster, facebook, etc.) is that people want their own space. Myspace is the 3rd most popular site in the world right now. (Will likely fade in a few years... these things come and go.)

But the principles Josh will share today are universal and timeless--not just for myspace, but more general.

Benefits to myspace:
*Great to unite people and friends.
*Can unite people based on shared interests.
*Universal--"myspace" is a verb now, like "google" has become. Folks may "myspace" [message] each either even opposed to talking by cell phone!

Key point: myspace is as safe as you want it to be, as safe as you make it. (The Internet can be good or bad.)

Having a Web page is a risk. E.g., if you google "Josh Griffin," you can find stuff about him and who he is. If you have a space, you are increasing your risk on the Internet. The more info you put online, the more you paint a sketch of you and fill it in. So you want to be careful as you do that.

Big picture, backing up.... What a student leader is:

1. Honest. Proverbs 11:3--"Good people are guided by their honesty."
2. Accountable. Ecclesiastes 4:10--One person walking alone, if they fall and break their leg, is helpless. But a person who is not alone, someone can lift them back up.
3. Encouraging. Job 4:3--"In the past you've encouraged many a soul to trust God."
4. Influencer. I Timothy 4:12--"Don't let anyone look down on you because of your youth, but be an example to the believers in life, faith, love, speech, and purity." [Upper Room theme verse for Spring '07 semester Youth Group/Sunday night teachings]

All this said, here are some Principles for online to consider:

1. What if myspace/the Internet was a place to share your faith? More than just a profile with pictures or leaving comments, friend requests, etc.
2. What if you used your blog or space to share the journey of your life? Your doubts, struggles, fears, where you are on your journey with Christ?
3. What is you used it as a place to encourage other people? (E.g., when birthday notifications come up, when you read a blog post and sense someone feels along. Sometimes people post their very raw feelings online (we have a filter on our mouths, but not always on a keyboard!). "There are things that I won't say to you that I will say to the world online!"

All of this is about engaging this technology for Christ. Logging on with a mission. Not just a student leader in Church, but a student leader who is consistent in character... online.

So if the Internet can be used for good, what are some guidelines to stay safe? Three actions to take to have best, safest online experience:

1. Limit the use of personal information.
*Use first names only. (Not hard and fast rule; take in combination with how much other info is up there, but use discretion.)
*Limit the amount of information about location. (e.g., not your address or saying, "I am out of town for three months, and I have a sweet TV, and here is my address.")
*Don't do anything with ages.
*e.g., Josh loves his kids, but no pictures of his kids online on his myspace.
*Password protect anything that you don't want on a billboard.
*E.g., setting myspace profiles to "private" so only your friends (people you know) can access it.
*The barriers can come down online.
2. Open yourself up to your parents (if you are a student) and accountability. If not a parent, then someone who has responsibility for me.
*a great Web site that helps with accountability is www.xxxchurch.com... they have a program called X3 Watch, which tracks all Web sites you visit and sends the list weekly/monthly to two accountability partners of your choosing.
*action step: take 24 hours to clean up your spaces and implement these suggestions.
3. "I will not believe everything I read on the Internet." Use discretion! Don't believe what you read in a profile, necessarily.

The world needs Christians who are online and on myspace. (Don't use the Christian alternative to myspace.) Go to myspace--be safe, be a student leader for Jesus, be a Christian on myspace. Engage with the online world.

Abram's thoughts from the plane

I (Abram) am writing from the plane, thousands of miles above what I think is Arizona. I’m on my way to California for Saddleback Church’s Purpose Driven Youth Ministry Student Leadership Conference, held this week from July 10 to July 14, 2007.

Having prayed for this trip and continuing to do so, the next thing to do is to say thank you to everyone who made it possible for our High School students to attend this life-changing conference. Many thanks to those who participated in our Dinner and Silent Auction, paid our students for labor, or gave a donation to help us get here! I’ve been very encouraged with how supportive the entire Truro parish has been of our Youth! Thank you!

Beginning with this post we are attempting to enlist a technology some of you may be familiar with: the Weblog, or blog for short. A blog is a live journal kept on the Internet for others to read. We plan on updating as often as possible—rumor has it that Saddleback’s entire campus is wireless. In fact, if the rooms used for the conference are wireless as well, we will even be able to “live blog”, or blog the conference as it is unfolding and as we are learning in real time. Mine will not be the only voice you hear on this conference this week. This will be a joint effort, and our student leaders will be joining me in the effort, so you’ll be able to hear from them, as well. Check back often!

And, no, this entry wasn’t technically a live blog entry, as the plan we are on is not wireless. But give Jet Blue a few more years and I suspect it will be….

Pax,
Abram