Community,Service,& Flowers
“Serve one another, humbly in love.”
Galatians 5:13 (NIV)
One of the most important lessons gleaned from the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic is that we all need community. It took me less than two weeks of sheltering at home isolation to declare, “I miss my people!” Author Jane Howard writing on community says, “Call it a clan, call it a tribe, call it a network, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”
Dr. Rene Spitz defines community as "reciprocal rootedness." Community is our desire to connect, to love, and be loved. God created us in His image (Genesis 1:27) to have a vertical relationship with him and horizontal relationships with others. All of us long to connect to something or someone. Author John Ortberg writes, “The yearning to attach and connect, to love and be loved, is the fiercest longing of the soul. Our need for community with people and the God who made us is to the human spirit what food and air and water are to the human body.”
But how do we effectively create, cultivate, build, and sustain community?
Community is often built as we get outside our comfort zones and try something new. My church’s Flower Guild was an unexpected community find for me. I had no previous experience with flowers except to admire them. But twenty years ago, I saw a church bulletin announcement inviting interested women to attend a no-obligation flower guild workshop.
Overcoming my initial fear and insecurity, I attended the workshop and met a whole host of talented women that I probably would have missed otherwise. Instead of teaching, I was the student, grateful for those who were willing to share their expertise. I found my people in the Flower Guild as I learned and served alongside those willing to steward their time and talents with me. More than flowers, I learned about stewardship, service, and community. I watched in wonder as individual flowers were collected and arranged to first form stunning floral arrangements for Sunday morning’s worship service. But I also learned to re-purpose those arrangements, take them apart, and prepare small vases for Monday morning deliveries to some seventy members living in retirement centers and nursing homes. The joy that I experienced in serving continues to multiply throughout the week as our shut-in recipients realize they are not forgotten!
Our Flower Guild members serve two non-consecutive months each year. Each team has a team leader with four or five additional women assisting. I’ve served on the May flower team this month as we’ve prepared arrangements to honor Moms and graduates; celebrate upcoming weddings; and remember Pastor Reeder and others for Memorial Day. It has been my joy to serve. During this month I have learned additional life skills, met new women, mentored younger guild members, enjoyed fellowship, and helped build community in our church.
Stewardship, community, fellowship, service, and building life skills are all important lessons that I might have missed had I succumbed to my initial fears, insecurities, and doubts. What about you? Is there some aspect of Body Life in your church or community that you would like to learn but are afraid to try? Maybe it's taking a seminary or counseling class, singing in the choir, or volunteering to lead a small group or Bible study. Perhaps it is serving in the church nursery or volunteering at Vacation Bible School. Whatever it is, your community needs you and you need your community!
I have been so blessed to have many mentors and models- folks willing to help me learn, serve, and develop the gifts, talents, and abilities that God has given me. The Apostle Paul was right when he wrote, "From Christ the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Ephesians 4:16 emphasis mine)
Our God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7) Get involved in Body Life in your church or community. There’s a lot to learn and love!