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On Sunday evening, our Missional Community went down to Idlewild Park to pray before the Reno Air Races Memorial.  While I was waiting for the others to arrive I was getting a little down.  As a pastor, Sunday’s can be very difficult at times.  I prepare a sermon weekly which needs to make theological sense, is something people want to / need to hear, is presented well, and is something I actually believe myself.  When you add that on top of my own emotions, spiritual warfare, and dealing with lots of different kinds of people, it often means that after Sunday service is over I want to crawl into a hole and not appear again until Tuesday.

It’s in those times that I start rehearsing reasons to not live in community:

1.  Living in community means you must put forth effort and everything that takes effort is tough.

2.  Living in community means you are open to others even when you are tired.

3.  Living in community means that people won’t act the way that you want them to act.

4.  Living in community means that you will be let down by the same people you are counting on.

5.  Living in community means that people will see ugly sides of you.

There are many advantages to living in community but people cannot be our goal.  If and when that happens we have lost focus and we will be disillusioned.  Our goal must always be Christ.  He must be at the center of everything that we do and at the center of every community that we live in.

And then I cheered up.  I was not at the park for my community.  I was there for Christ.  They all showed up and we had a great time together but had they not come I would not have been disappointed.  Christ was there.  That was enough.

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