The Road To: Community

The Road to:  Community

"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility". 
Fred Rogers  (Mr. Rogers to those of us who remember!)

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Helen Keller

Community is about who we are, what we feel responsible for, what we can do together. Since the word community is prominent in the name of our church, I will be using community with a lowercase c for this blog post.  

But the road to a “community" takes a lot of effort, thought and commitment!

Rev. Robert Schwenck is the Pastor Emeritus at CPC, having served this congregation for many years.  He has shared his written meditations with our men’s group for some time.  Here is a meditation that addresses the concept of “community” and offers us food for thought, discussion and prayer. It was titled, “Who is us?”

“See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!” John 3:1 

Who is “US?” Who are God’s children? Is it just us Christians or is it all souls who have ever lived? I think this scripture meant originally “the believers in Jesus,” but I also think that is too narrow. That view restricts All Powerful God way too much. I believe our Creator is desiring to engage the earth and all humans in it and is always seeking to find cracks in our personal resistance, our cultural filters and even our religious prejudices to care for us and lead us to His truth. I think God’s love and grace is much bigger than any vision of it. The Lord loves all his children. I also believe that knowing the Creator/Sustainer through Jesus is a great advantage. When we see God in Jesus, we are looking at the heart of God. I do not doubt the people who reach out to God, who use other imagery, other visions of the Creator, are loved by God, but outside of the light shown in Jesus, there is so much room for a mistaken identity. So many spiritual visions are off target because the culture, personal pride and ego needs distort the truth. So many spiritual visions of God are off target because they are attempts to justify selfishness, prejudice and hate. Jesus is the Son of God, the one who carries the truth in his every thought and action. There will be difficulty knowing the truth without the image of God in the Son. But even the most off-base soul is loved by God, and that love will not be defeated no matter how dark the sin or how much God must suffer in order to maintain the relationship. Nothing in all creation can separate All of “US” from the love of God.
Rev. Robert L. Schwenck

Here are a ton of questions about “community.”  What resonates for you?  Please comment!!

What are your thoughts?  What does the word ”community” mean to you? How do you define your “community?”  What do you value about “community.” What would you do to improve your “community?” How does “community" contribute to your life? Your values? Your concerns? Your prayers? What is your view/understanding of ”community”? Is it an expansive view as shared by Rev. Schwenck? Would you leave anyone out? Who would you leave out and why?  

Please share your comments below.

Here’s an interesting twist.  With all the commentary about AI today, I asked Google’s Gemini to draft a short prayer about “community.”  Here’s what I got:

God of all,
We thank you for the gift of community. For the people who lift us up, share our joys and sorrows, and challenge us to grow. Help us to cherish these bonds, to act with kindness and understanding, and to build communities that reflect your love and justice. Amen.

It’s pretty (or amazingly, or scarily) right-on, wouldn’t you say?  

What would your prayer be? 

Praying for you,

PB

Note our CPC vision statement (revised 2024):
Community Presbyterian Church (CPC) welcomes all people into God’s way of life and community.  
Here “community” means those we know well and those we hope to know, those sitting next to us in a pew, and those we encounter day by day. It’s large and expansive. It’s small and intimate.

Community Presbyterian Church
32202 Del Obispo
San Juan Capistrano. CA 92675
949-493-1502 
info@sjcpres.org