Oh the term "Community"...

So North Park I have a blog for you or I guess anyone but…

I know we talk a lot about the term community.  We talk about how we long for community and how we desire to be in community with other people.  We strive to create new events and new groups to build community on campus and even off campus as we all will graduate and then feel the void of community even more.  While being here in Africa, one thing that continues to come to my mind is the word COMMUNITY.  It could be because I miss my “community” that I build in Chicago; it could be because I miss my spiritual community that was so encouraging and consistent; it could be simply because I was able to pick and control my community at any moment in time and here, that is not an option.  Even though all those things have come to my mind at one point or another, I am beginning to realize that I am involved in a community here like I have never experienced before!

The community that I am surrounded by has included me without my permission or my effort.  I have been tossed into a family of people who look out for each other and care for each other rather well.  I have been included in events and activities without being asked.  I have been volunteered to do projects and participate on teams without given the option.  Community here just looks different.  What I am beginning to find is that there are very few requirements for this community.  Anyone is invited and everyone plays a role within the community whether they like it or not.  No one has to beg for participation or pull teeth to get people involved; people do it on their own!  It’s the craziest thing.  People here know that they cannot survive without their community and therefore it is a given.  It is amazing and even frustrating at times to be included when you did not choose to be included yet at the same time, everyone understands the roles of the body.  Everyone understands that this community will not function without them and they will struggle to move forward and continue moving forward if they are not invested.

A few examples that I have caught myself complaining about or feeling overwhelmed with are as follows: we are in the process of raising money and building a new church.  Here, they build the church building themselves.  I mean, they do EVERYTHING themselves, from making the bricks, to burning the bricks, to digging the foundation, to stacking the bricks, to making cement, to applying the cement, to cutting the glass, painting the rafters, installing the electricity.  They do it all and they do it all together.  One day at the end of our Sunday morning church service Pastor Charles said that they needed room to make more bricks and so we needed to move all 5,000 bricks to the side to open up space.  Every person from our church, young (6-years-old) and old (70-years-old), made their way outside where we formed lines and began hauling bricks back and forth.  Not a single person complained until I caught myself saying, “see now this is the kind of stuff we pay people to do in the States.”  What a horrible comment but true!  Moving dirty bricks would not be a first priority for the church while dressed in our Sunday best and counting the minutes on the clock.  I was amazed!  Not only was it every kind of person from our church, but it included people walking through the village as well.  People would see what we were working on and they would stop and help.  They would grab a shovel and begin to dig or join in the middle of the line to throw bricks from one side of the yard to the other.  Even at school today, the teachers asked the 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th graders to help move all 5,000 bricks so they can get put in place to be burnt and everyone ran outside and began helping.  After a half an hour or so, the kids got tired and restless but they began the project!

Another example is what we call maintenance.  The students come the first week of school and clean up the grounds.  They sweep the ground, pick up trash, water the dirt and flowers, wash the floors and windows, and pump water at the well.  Every day when the children arrive at school and every evening when they leave school they have cleaning groups that sweep and wash down the classrooms.  This is something that is normal here and the kids do it at every school whether in the city or the village, public or private.  In the States, many of our children would not be caught getting on their knees washing the floor with a rag or sweeping the dirt filled field.  Here, the kids don’t actually complain because they want their school to look nice and it is part of what they do; they work for the better good of everyone else who uses the school and the church.

A final example of ways in which I have seen community on a daily basis is in caring for people.  Things are done a little differently around here with children.  The children start school a little later and therefore they grow up around the house doing chores and wandering the village.  We will be sitting in the middle of class and a young boy will show up at the door with our teacher’s baby.  She will grab the baby and begin nursing him in the middle of class.  When she is done feeding him she will set him down and someone else will pick him up and bring him home.  Very seldom is it the same person looking after the same child but everyone takes responsibility for all people within their village.  Even at church, when a child begins to cry or is heading in a direction they are not supposed to be going, no one looks for the mother or father to grab and straighten up their child; the person who notices, picks up the child and cares for their need.  Everyone is a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, and a mentor.  Don’t get me wrong, there are defined roles that people play but the responsibility does not fall on that one person to have it all together and fulfill the duty at every moment.  The other day I was feeling sick when I arrived at school and I shared that with Teacher Judy.  She stopped what she was doing, stood up, and grabbed my head.  She began praying for healing and good health.  Judy understands the parts of the “Body” and she didn’t need to wait for a pastor or a certified church leader to come pray for me.  The Bible says to call on the elders to pray and she to can fulfill that role.

Now I think to myself, what kind of examples are these.  Does this happen in my life and I simply overlook them or is this a glimpse of what raw community can look like?  I wonder now, even as I write this, maybe I have experienced this before but I didn’t see it as an opportunity to involve myself in the community.  I think back, have I ever been asked to stay around late after church to do something unexpected and not so appealing?  Have I ever seen a change that needed to be made or something that needed to be done but I waited on someone else to do it?  Have I ever been so generous and eager to help someone whom I may not know but simply lives down the road?  Do I get annoyed easily when I am given great responsibility in projects without them even asking if I am interested or am I grateful because they have enough faith and trust in me to complete the job and complete it well?

How do we see our community?  Do we see them as a project with all these things they need to prove?  Do we see community as a single group of people or a large clan who all have something in common like: where they live, go to school, or what we enjoy doing?  Are our communities inclusive or exclusive… Seriously?   Do we welcome new people or would we rather it just be our close group of friends or our small church where everyone is easily identifiable?  How willing are we to go out of our way to move 5,000 bricks for a church we don’t attend or to hand dig a grave for a family we have no connection to but look to honor their grief and sorrow?

I am not saying that I have all the answers and I am surely not saying that this community or my community in Chicago is perfect, but I do believe that God is opening my eyes to new things.  I do believe that I am being shown glimpses of the body of Christ and how we really do need each other.  The Bible says in:  1 Corinthians 12:14-26

"Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part.  If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body?  And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if the whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.  The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.”  The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.”  In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.  And the parts we regard as least honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care.  So we carefully protect those parts (or people) that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care.  So God has knit the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.  This makes for HARMONY (community) among the members, so that all the members care for each other.  If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad."

Now, is this raw community?

Love, SLE