I Thank God for Community

On Sunday, I went with Cathy (one-year missionary from Ohio) to Vineyard Church after service. It was my first time at an English service since I've been here in Thailand and praise God it was such a blessing. For a while my main spiritual feeding outside of personal devotion was a New Testament survey class I've been taking at Chiang Mai Theological Seminary. Then I started listening to John Piper sermons after helping out with the service at Grace Fellowship. The service is entirely in Thai, so I help out with praise and either pray or read my Bible in the back during the message. Sometimes I try to sit and understand the message but usually it's like "ooo that means sin!" I doubt I'll know enough Thai to understand a full message by the end of my year here, especially because the Thai Bible uses a higher, formal Thai that's different from conversational Thai. Then for the past two weeks, Mayer gave me the opportunity to watch eCollege service through Skype which is pretty cool but pixel-y.

All these means of feeding myself were great, but by last week I still found myself dry and spiritually weak. And after attending an English service on Sunday, singing praise songs in English (a bunch of Vineyard songs I didn't know), and listening to a sermon (if I could call it that, it was more like a seminar on spiritual gifts) I began to realize what I was missing. After the message, the four members of the congregation prayed for me and Cathy and it brought such peace to my heart as they gave me words of encouragement. I felt the warmth of their hands as they prayed for me and that sometimes tingly sensation when something they're saying really hits your heart.

Community.

I recently read a blog about how some internet church performed the first internet baptism and regardless of whether I think that's right or not, I know I'd never want that. There's something just so wonderful and beautiful about community. Not the kind where you can give yourself a screen name and craft perfect words or video angles to hide your true self, but the kind where you can take off all the masks and subterfuges of having it all together and be surrounded by people who will love you for who you are, not what they want you to be.

And I'm not saying that all of a sudden I had community with the members at Vineyard (although in some sense I did), but I think what was most blessing was that it reminded me the community I had back at home. Should I choose to continue attending this church, I'm not going to use them to think about my community at home...that's like kissing your girlfriend and thinking about Jessica Alba or whoever is popular these days. I have to make my sacrifices, put my guard down, and force myself to go through all the uncomfortable and awkward small talk. But that's what true community takes, no?

Remembering back to my journey through church community (and as I've shared to some before), I used to hate Sarang because it was too big and I had no group of people that would love me and encourage me to walk in the Lord. But I came to the realization that it's not entirely the church's responsibility to provide that. Because I never took the personal risks to put myself out there, there was no way I could ever get past the seemingly superficiality of other church members. But once I did take that leap, I found a group of people who were quite genuine with their flaws and willing to travel the journey of knowing Christ together.

I truly do miss home, my friends who speak English, praise songs in English, Chipotle and all that. But above all I miss the community of people of God, the living stones being built together brick by brick under the cornerstone that is our Lord Jesus Christ. God knows my particular situation and I pray He will provide for me a more than adequate substitute for what my heart so desires. But for everyone back home, I say take a minute to thank God for your friends and brothers and sisters that love you with the love of Christ, who stick by you during you times of adversity, who weep with you during your times of sorrow, who rejoice with you in your times of victory, who encourage you in times of despair, and who strengthen you in times of weakness. It's truly a gift of grace from God, let's not take it for granted.