I am so excited about what God is about to do. Today we begin something that I hope will be revolutionary. I hope after 40 days of focusing on community that we will be different. I will be different. You will be different. But above all we will be different together. This focus on community can be just what you have been looking for. It can be the cure to what is ailing you. It can be the freedom from whatever is holding you back. If you commit yourself to these 40 days of community you will have the answer to loneliness, fear, fatigue, failure, anything you face. That is a bold statement, but I believe it is true. Those are some mighty mountains, but I truly believe we can face anything when we face it from within Christian community.
It is time for us to get over this Lone Ranger idea. I know that is tough because we have always been taught to do it ourselves. Our country was founded on the Declaration of Independence and I remember many lessons in life about being independent. It is time to get out on my own, to take care of myself, and to stand on my own two feet. We have been taught most of our lives that being independent is the goal, it is the ultimate achievement. But as God has worked on my heart and as I prepared for this message series I have become more and more convinced that independence is a false hope. Independence should not be our ultimate goal.
If you read the Bible and understand what it is saying, I think it is hard to say a major theme would be independence. In the Old Testament the Ten Commandments are a key piece and all ten commandments are about relationships. The first four focus on our relationship with God and the last six are about our relationship with each other. In the New Testament we see how Jesus lives in community with those around him and many of the lessons are also about how we relate to God and others. God is also community, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three in one.
When we strive for independence we are going to be disappointed. Because we were created for community. We were meant to live this life with other people. With other people work becomes easier. Try moving heavy objects by yourself instead of with the help of a few friends. With other people our fears can be overcome. It is very different walking down a dark alley by yourself compared to walking it with a bunch of friends.
How many of you were born independent? You were born and you could care for yourself. You could live on your own and make your own decisions. No, we were born dependent on others, dependent on community.
So we were created for community in the beginning, but it is also our goal, our destination. This became evident to me as I read this passage from the Gospel of John. Chapter 17 is a prayer prayed by Jesus. It is after Jesus and his disciples have finished the Last Supper and just before Jesus is arrested, tried and crucified. So this is a significant time for Jesus and he takes time to pray.
And do you know who he prayed for? Jesus prayed for you. In this chapter first Jesus prays for himself, then he prays for his disciples, and then he prays for all believers who will come to faith later. That is, he prayed for you and me. And if Jesus is praying for us then it must be important what he prays. He prays that you and I would be united. Twice he prays for us to be one. Jesus prays you would be part of a Christian community. And that is not just having your name on the rolls or a face in the crowd, but a united, inseparable piece of the Body of Christ. Part of a community that knows you and where you know the rest of the community.
The image that came to my mind was of a quilt. I have a quilt from our home. This one was made by Helen’s grandmother who she was named for. This quilt is made up of many different pieces, yet they are woven together to make one warm blanket. Helen said these pieces were scraps from other projects. She recognizes some of the patterns from clothes she worn growing up. And her grandmother took each of those individual pieces and put them together.
During these 40 Days of Community I hope you will keep in your mind this image of being woven together. Ecclesiastes 4:12 says, “A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” When we are woven together we become strong. We can conquer fears. We can overcome anything, but only when we are together.
Christian community is the answer to Jesus’ prayer for you, but it is up to you whether or not you will join. Again our independence will tell us we can make it on our own. It will tell us we don’t need other people. It will tell us not to let others know we need them. And that might be true right now, maybe right now everything is great for you, but at some point life will happen and you will need a community. You can either hope that a community responds at that time or you can get connected now and know they will already be there when you need them. It also might be that this time is not about your need for community, but someone else’s.
While we were in Tennessee for Helen’s family reunion in July we thankfully got to go swimming several times. It is hot in Tennessee in the middle of July. We swim at a pool in the backward of a relative. The pool is in the ground and has a diving board in the deep end that is probably 9 or 10 feet deep.
This year Jamison started to jump off the diving board. He has had swimming lessons and was able to do it himself. Hayden has not had swimming lessons, but of course she wants to do what brother is doing. So to keep her afloat she wore a lifejacket. I have a picture of her.
One day when we had finished up swimming we hosed off our kids with the garden hose and were gathering our stuff when I looked up and Hayden was standing on the diving board without her lifejacket. Helen and I were all the way on the other side of the pool. I calmly told her to get down because she had been rinsed off and she should not get back into the water. But she stood there smiling at me. From her smile I knew she was not going to be talked down from the board, so I started to walk towards her and with a stern voice told her she better not jump into the pool because she did not have on her jacket. I did not want to run towards her because I thought that might make her jump faster, so I walked with purpose while trying to tell her to get down.
Of course, she jumped. I was close enough that I took one step and jumped in after her. Normally I do not open my eyes underwater because I wear contacts and I don’t know if they might just float out of my eyes. They probably won’t, but I do not test that theory. But when Hayden was in there I opened my eyes underwater because I did not want to take the chance of missing her with my first attempt to rescue her. She did not sink as far as I expected her to, but I grabbed her and she was fine. If any of you have experienced something like this with your children you know the fear and adrenaline that fills you in those moments. I would do anything to protect or save my children.
But I have to be honest, and I don’t remember if this was while I was jumping in or afterwards, but for a split second I thought, don’t grab her too quickly. I thought I need to let her get some fear from this situation to learn that she put her life in danger. This was not a funny little joke, but a serious situation. Maybe she needs to learn her lesson by coughing on some water. As I said that thought crossed my mind, but nowhere in my body did I hesitate. I could not stand there and let her swallow even a little water.
I share this to encourage us to think about our brothers and sisters in Christ and how often we sit and watch one another drown. Of course we would not physically let people drown, but people are drowning all around us. They are drowning in financial struggles. They are drowning in depression, loneliness or fear. They are drowning in a medical situation. And we get ourselves off the hook because we want them to be independent. If I help them they will not learn from their mistake. Or probably more often, this person is right next to us, but we have no idea they are drowning. Either we have not asked or they have not shared that with us simply because our relationship is not one that is formed in real community.
Jesus never teaches us to strive for independence. He never teaches us to let others fight through their own struggles alone. He prays for us to be united in community. He actually prays for us to interdependent. He prays we will be one and depend on each other.
So today instead of declaring our independence, I invite you to declare your interdependence. This morning we will celebrate communion, a sacred symbol of our dependence on Christ Jesus, but also today a celebration of our dependence on each other. Your declaration of interdependence will be one of these ribbons. After you received communion if you are going to commit to our 40 Days of Community I invite you to take a ribbon from the basket and place it on the cross. This is your declaration of interdependence. By placing a ribbon on the cross you are saying you want to grow in Christian community. You are saying I need other people.
There are three levels of commitment you can make. First, you can commit to making all of the Sunday worship services, there are six more. Second, you can commit to reading the “Better Together” daily devotional. Those books are in the fellowship hall. And the first day of reading is today. Finally, if you really believe you were created for community, if you really believe Jesus prayed for you to be in community, and if you really believe Christian community is the best way to rescue the drowning, then you need to sign up for a small group. The group will meet 6 times. The community built in 6 sessions together could rescue you or someone sitting next to you.
You see it is not always obvious who is drowning because we act like we are independent, but we are not. We need each other. We were created for community.
When we catch people when they fall and when we are truly living as a community it will be evident that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. So after you have declared your interdependence, pick up a key tag that has our first Scripture memory verse on it. This verse for the week says, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:35 You will get these each week with a new memory verse on it.
As you come for communion really pray and talk to God about your commitment to 40 Days of Community. Maybe you have been wrestling with how much of a commitment you want to make. Or maybe you have brushed it off completely. I believe Jesus wants to start a revolution within us. Jesus wants to catch everyone who is drowning, but we keep standing on the side. Maybe we hope the person can swim on their own or more often we have no idea they are in the water because we don’t know the person. All of this can stop, if we commit to being better together.
