Relationship

"God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them" (1 John 4:16).

I have a feeling that our longing for community and relationship is somehow connected to being made in God's image. It makes sense that if we were designed in the image of the Father that we should have the same need, desire, and connection existent in the Trinity. It is no coincidence, then, that many of those I know who are so disconnected from community and relationship often also feel the disconnect between themselves and God.

We were made for Him. We were made for each other.

Life in broken community doesn't make any sense deep down, and maybe that is why so many of us do strange things to find community and belonging when we don't have it. That's why divorce or abandonment or broken relationships affect us to our core. I think a person's search for that needed interconnected relationship can take us down dangerous paths that only increase our isolation. Perhaps this search explains a lot of the behavior we see, both in ourselves and in others.

We were made for Him. We were made for each other.

I cannot imagine the Christian experience apart from deep, authentic relationship with others. I think we long for community as we long for God. I find little satisfaction in my Christian experience with just showing up, being handed a service, and walking out the door again. Wanting God but not wanting the bother of others is something I cannot get my head (and heart) around. We market our churches and services based on the wants of the disconnected consumer and then sit back and wonder why so many are detached and disjointed and wandering.

We were made for Him. We were made for each other.

When churches don't reflect the relationship of the Trinity and don't satisfy the hunger for deep, intimate, safe connectedness, those who are searching for it will search elsewhere. Instead of reflecting this authentic, tangible, holy community of the Trinity, we instead reflect our consuming culture as we market religious goods and services in competition with the popular culture that surrounds us. It may have worked for a while (or so we thought), but it is working no longer.

We were made for Him. We were made for each other.

Because God is present everywhere, I feel at home with the neighbor, with friends, among strangers, and at work. My wife and I have chosen to broaden the definition and boundaries of "family" to extend to those who want to share in the God-designed sense of belonging and community, and it is among these people that I feel the most safe, the most challenged, and the most vulnerable. To me, these relationships reflect community as God designed it. I can't imagine life without them.

We were made for Him. We were made for each other.

Jesus teaches us that our boundaries need to be stretched beyond the walls of our religious institutions and cultural separations to include the neighbor, the stranger, the enemy, and those in need. Our love should resemble the love the Godhead has for one another and for us. When we live in love, we live in Him.