The Need For Connectedness
Ian Revie
‘…with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love’.
Ephesians 3:17-18 (MSG)
I have enjoyed the summer church out in our communities, we have seen and been involved in many exciting conversations and getting to know each other better over this summer — it appears to me that we have spent much more time sharing than we do when we normally meet in our school venue. So what is going on?
Unfortunately, sometimes the word fellowship has come to be associated with awkward gatherings in church basements, drinking red punch, and participating in stilted conversations. No wonder people give up on it! Paul describes connectedness as ‘both feet planted firmly in love’.
I don’t like to over-spiritualise scripture, but Joy & I have been watching a new TV series — called ‘The Secret Life of Trees’ — it’s fascinating to see that Tree communication, community and nutrition are all required to help trees grow. We have language, emotions, physical relationships — and for some reasons maybe we don't reach out as much as we should.
Again Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT), “Three things will last forever — faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love”. And before that in verse 1: “if you don't have love you are a clanging gong”. The trees will only get nutrients if they are rooted in the ground, and we have seen the effects in storms over the last years when tree roots are disturbed — even the smallest disturbance means the tree starts to die.
In the same way, we’re rooted in the love of God and our souls are nourished by this and also by other people around us — also called our Church. We experience the effects of this nourishment physically and emotionally when we connect with somebody. When there is an exchange of genuine caring, the roots of your soul get fed. Maybe this is what we saw more of over the summer.
Our small groups and church events are designed to give the opportunity for sharing and listening. Nik often starts our Sunday service with a Welcome and then says, “but our meeting started from 10:30 when we meet and share over coffee”. Sometimes it's easier to not reach out and speak to people, show we care and listen to what is going on — maybe we think it doesn't matter, or we don't have enough time, so we don't start. God designed us for community but we have to be intentional about relationships and reaching out.
I think we can all look to connections that helped make us who we are, people we look up to, people who come close when we have trouble. Paul says in 2 Corinthians:
“God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us”
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (MSG)
This helps determine who we become as individuals. Personal interactions are inextricably linked to good mental health, psychological health, and emotional well-being, so our connectedness matters.
We have loved the fun and excitement connected conversations, quiet times and thoughtful exchanges over the summer, it would be great for us to continue these in our sunday worship and ongoing small group sessions, God designed us to connect to be a part of community, we shouldn't remove ourselves, either deliberately or by absence.
We should use our precious time together to show a gentle love to each other, so that others will see that our Vineyard Church community is a good place to be.
