Starting @ Home

No community is ever perfect... at least not once past the picturesque appearance. No geographic community. No organized community. No church or cause. And at it's most basic unit, neither is a family community, ever perfect.

Yet, as we look around us, at our world, whether locally or at-large, we quickly see that the problems and chasms that exist on a large scale also exist to some degree behind closed doors. So effectively engaging community can be a challenge in our neighborhoods and outside the four walls of our local church because engaging with each other at home can present just as many challenges.

Communication. Expression. Openness. Honesty. Discernment. Responsibility. Identity.

Whenever any of the above elements are non-existent, twisted, out of balance or misguided, then there are strong odds that life will be a tense, stressful struggle.

We've seen too much of it already. Throughout our world. Throughout our nation. In our home states. In our home towns. In our local church. Yet all of those things are built as the result of what happens behind our own front doors and what enters or escapes the back door when we aren't keenly aware and alert.

I'll be the first to admit, I could do better. Could you? Could the church? Could our governing authorities? Yes, yes, and yes! And I for one will need the grace and strength of God and the help of the Holy Spirit.

On this #communitySaturday, let's pray that indeed, God would help us, even as we lead our families in the basic structure of community. May God grant to us strength and grace to lead and by the power of the Holy Spirit, may we do it well. Pray that we would do better in our communications and responsibilities. Pray that each of us would have, hold and live our identities in Christ. May God grant to us discernment, as we engage in our relationships with those in our homes and the communities at large, with which we are apart throughout the week. Pray that we would be effective in representing the character of Christ and the love of God in all we say and do, regardless of who is in the room and a part of the conversation.

For before that was community
There was family.
Dwelling in the presence of God
Where He desires all man would live.
For His glory and honor, we pray.

- PNC

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