I WRITE WHEN....
I write when either of the 2 things occur, I am very free and have nothing to do, or when I stumble upon something really good I thought I should reflect on it and share some thoughts from it. Sometimes it might just be stumbled over something, sometimes it can be stumbled by something.
i don't want to appear soooooo hor-ducated and talk like I know know kno kno no no no no o o o o .. it all, because i don't and in my imperfection I have thoughts and emotions too, which you may not agree with, nor will you see eye to eye with. but isn't that what pushes your thinking buttons and isn't that what makes you sit up and rethink many decisions you have made in life... because an imperfect perspective which is different from your perceived perfection throws a spanner into your momentum of motion.
JUST SCOLD ME....
I get rebukes so many times when I question things, when I question technicalities, when I question intentions. people publish it all over the blogs about how wet blanket i become when i ask question or put an alternative perspective. Name calling and labelling, these are nothing more than the actions an intimidated, intimidating the threats that intimidate their validity on the grip of things.
It leaves me unfazed when you do name calling, murmuring or bashing (some call it cyber-bullying) because the truth is in what you place your security in.
BUILDING (CHRIST-LIKE) COMMUNITIES
Well, I want to share with you about something written by Henri Nouwen (and I encourage you to read his works yourselves, just like i read your's at opportune moments, instead of selectively choosing only what you want to read which agrees with your line of thought and philosophy; as that would narrow's one's mind, doesn't it?)
As people in my community grapple with many changes lets explore, in Henri Nouwen's words, what is community.
HE SAYS...
He shares, 'Community is like a large mosaic. Each little piece seems so insignificant. One piece is bright red, another cold blue or dull gree, another warm purple, another sharp yellow, another shining gold. Some look precious, other ordinary. Some look valuable, other worthless. Some look gaudy, other delicate. As individual stones, we can do little with them but compare them and judge their beauty and value. When, however, all these little stones are brought together in one big mosaic portraying the face of Christ, who would ever question the importance of any one of them? If one of them, even the least spectacular one, is missing, the picture is incomplete. Together in one big mosaic, each little stone is indispensable and makes a unique contribution to the glory of God. That's community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible to the world'
'The basis of community is not primarily our ideas, feelings, and emotions about each other, but our common search for God. When we keep our minds and hearts directed towards God, we will come more fully "together".'
Lets plough through this together, but before i continue, make a few acknowledgement and recognise a few realities we must face up to.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, there is a season to everything. And being at a certain place/community for that season, and leaving when the season is up, is a natural course in life we all take. How do we know the season is up for you in that community and for you to move on, is something that everyone will ask, and trust me, my answer will be 'poison' to many. Afterall, one man's meat is another's poison, wasn't it? So lets not get into this whole area, unless you ask, of course.
Second, Change is the only thing Constant (and perhaps, to combat that, we need communities, because change can be controlled, or even responsibily managed). These being said, let me go back to the 2 paragraphs I took our from Henri Nouwen's Can you drink the Cup? and see what realities we can learn.
THOUGHT ONE - The Big Picture...
Community is like a large mosaic. Henri brings out the point that we all have to fit into a larger picture, purposefully placed there for a reason. Some of us are bright and shiny, and believe that we should stand out in the crowd, noticed and given the rights of the glamarous, since our comtemporaries which are shiny and blink blink gets so much recognition.
We become dissatisfied when we are placed beside the duller looking pieces, and share the same 'glory' with them. We become unhappy when no one really notices our needs, when we keep twitching our blink blink bodies to get the attention we want, some attention to come and polish us, so that we can SHINE better in the picture, hoping to believe that the more shiny we are, the nicer the picture would look.
What becomes worse is that we start looking down on the neighbour beside and say that they don't deserve to sit here because they are not as shiny as you are. We start to talk about 'dropping out of the picture' since it is starting to look gaudy with Mr. Gaudy standing beside me, we start moving around.
What happens then, to the picture, which we had first started out to form? Have we forgotten the responsibilities we committed to for the rights we shared? Our season is up? Have we risen enough duplicates of ourselves in the community to ensure that when we leave, another just as shiny piece can take over? If we haven't, then we must seriously rethink about this whole
season talk.
THOUGHT TWO - Individualism in Community
Henri also mentioned something which hit me very hard, and that was how the community that we shared being about our ideas, feelings and emotions that we had. Instead, despite acknowledging that we have difference, recognize that we have one common, underlying and totally important desire. That desire was what created the community in the first place, and that desire was, is, and will be God and His will.
He mentioned that when we kept our minds and hearts directed to God, that also meant, focusing our energies on the Cross and the work of the Cross, we will come more fully together, or we can view it to be, we are more united in mind and heart.
It takes courage for us to admit that we have differences, and more courage for us to address these differences; but we need to rise above pettiness to co-exist with these difference. So that we choose not to take offense with someone else's opinions and actions, but communicating concern about how that action fits into fulfilling the task of everyone else, and underscores the objectives of the community.
Communicate, not condemn. What we need would be encouragement for us to understand that we have a choice to lay down our lives daily and take up the Cross. We can only feel offended because anger is basically an emotional response to another persons' violation of our rights.
That encouragement constantly rings in my mind, because I am often reminded that when we take up the model of the Cross, Christ did not fight for His rights, as the universal laws will never punish an innocent man, much less hang him on the cross to die as an atonement.
Notice that the only mention of individualism and rights in creating a community is the fact that we actually deny them for the greater identity of the community. If we were seeking for a 'hollywood effect' feeling, then we make sure that we join a community seeking the same thing.
This is true because when the community communes for the common purpose, speaking the same language, having the same desire, it actually 'frightens God'. I am not saying that God is a scaredy cat, but lets refer to Gen 11:6 'behold, they are one people (isn't that a community?) and they all have the same language (isn't that unity in speech?) And this is what they began to do, and now nothing is impossible for them.'' The Scripture clearly states the effect, and the powerful effect of a group of people who are willing to unite for a common cause. This, because of Christ's redemption, has provided His community a tool to use for the benefit of the us.
Concluding Thoughts...
Just as there is very Lous Voutton bag, there would always be the imitations, which can serve the same purpose of putting things within, but have stolen an original concept which never was intended for them.
Be careful of how the devil uses our tools and weapons against us. We can always shine our very best, but for whom do we shine?
