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My first full-time church ministry included musical worship as a part of my job. I was leading music at my church every other week. At the same time, I was playing in a band and did a fair bit of music leading in other contexts. At the time, there were a handful of songwriters who were writing many of the new songs we were leading. As a songwriter myself, I thought it would be fun to write a song – even a simple chorus – to teach at my own church. So I did. It was focused on affirming my connection with God and the lyrics echoed sentiments of many other musical worship songs – then and now. The key line in it, addressed to God, was, “You alone are all I need.”

I taught it and lead it several times. People enjoyed singing it. The music flowed in a way that allowed voices to soar. It felt deeply significant to sing. And then, I started a love affair with the early chapters of Genesis that continues to live on today. And I stopped singing the song. I scrapped it. Why? Because I realized it was affirming something that went directly against the heart of God and his intention for us.

In Genesis 1, everything looks wonderful as God creates the world and declares it good. The culmination of this creation is humanity – male and female – created in God’s image and God’s observation that everything was “very good.” In Genesis 2, a telling of the origin story with a different theological emphasis has man created first. Then God makes this observation, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” God goes on to make someone for the man that most English versions of the Bible translate as “helper.” This is not some second-tier assistant. The word for “helper” there is the same word that is used in the Psalms to describe how God relates to us. This is someone with a level of interdependent cooperation with the man. A true and full partner of sorts. The point for our purposes, however, is that this other person was needed. It wasn’t good for a person to be alone. Before there was sin or rebellion or disobedience, this was something that wasn’t good in creation – aloneness.

We were not created to just want or need God. God created us to need each other. When the world was broken, it was relationships that were shattered. And then, when Jesus came to bring healing to the world, he did so not simply by calling individuals to himself. He did so by forming a community around him. His command was to love God and love others. Being in this together is essential to being and becoming Jesus people.

Henri Nouwen once reflected, “Christian community is the place where we keep the flame of hope alive among us and take it seriously so that it can grow and become stronger in us.” He acknowledged that “Nothing is sweet or easy about community.” But he reflected the New Testament writers’ conviction that life with God was a life lived in community.

The importance of community has been somewhat lost over the past couple of years. And I suggest that culturally we have been losing a sense of for many years. We talk about community as a place or a geographical area or a collection of shops and parks and positions, either elected or volunteer. But a community, church or otherwise, is supposed to be about people living in relationship with each other. The New Testament is filled with affirmations about how we should live with “one another.” This is the essence of the Christian life.

As a board, we’ve been wrestling with how we can foster community better together. We were talking about it before the pandemic, but after the last couple of years, it seems even more urgent. To help us in this regard we are launching a trial experiment of Covenant Lunch & Conversation times in October and December. This is an invitation for everyone to participate in a potluck lunch after church on a Sunday and then stick around to talk together. There are really three purposes for these gatherings and they all relate to this idea of being together in this thing we call a church family.

First, we want to foster community. We want to create a context where we can get to know each other and connect with each other. And gathering around a shared meal is one of the best ways to do this. All of the technological innovations in the world cannot replace breaking bread together.

Secondly, we want to have better communication. After we eat together, we’ll gather all together again to help each other be on the same page in terms of what is going on at the church. What do we have to celebrate? What concerns are there? What important new information do we all need to know? By better sharing this information, it should help us be more together in things.

And thirdly, we hope to foster healthier cooperation. Often items come to our board table and we aren’t sure what to do. The thing is, most of those things don’t need to be considered by just the board. They may be better for us all to be aware of because someone outside of the board may have a better way forward. Someone else may have the skill (or know someone who has a skill) to deal with an issue. Or there may be an issue at hand that we need to simply hear more voices on so that we can better discern a direction. There may be times formal business is required, but this is really about trying to be the church together and processing our collective things in the context of relationship.

More information about this gathering is on the event page on the website (www.covenantchurch.ca) so please check that out and plan on participating if you are able.

I want to close by reading something else Henri Nouwen wrote about Christian community to encourage you and remind you of your essential place in who we are together.

Community is like a large mosaic. Each little piece seems so insignificant. One piece is bright red, another cold blue or dull green, another warm purple, another sharp yellow, another shining gold. Some look precious, others ordinary. Some look valuable, others worthless. Some look gaudy, others delicate. We can do little with them as individual stones except 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 face is incomplete. Together in the one 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 in the world.

Upcoming at Covenant

  • This coming Sunday is Thanksgiving Sunday. We’ll be receiving communion together and Glenn Robitaille will be bringing the message.
  • Men’s Connection meets at 10 am on Tuesday.
  • Our youth meets on Wednesday. Because of our Jr. High retreat last weekend, it may be just our senior high who are meeting this week. Check our website and @covenantyouthministry on Instagram for confirmation on that!

As we move towards Thanksgiving Weekend, may God give you eyes to see that which you have to be thankful for. Whatever is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable; whatever is excellent and worthy of praise  – may you think on these things.

God Bless you in the remainder of your week.

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