“’See how these Christians love one another’ might well have been a spontaneous exclamation in the days of the apostles. The Holy Fellowship, the Blessed Community has always astonished those who stood without it. The sharing of physical goods in the primitive church is only an outcropping of a profoundly deeper sharing of a Life, the base and center of which is obscured to those who are still oriented about self, rather than about God” (Thomas Kelly in A Testament of Devotion).
From the earliest days of the church, Christian community has been a vital expression of faith. Joining together in prayer and service, in worship and study and accountability, is what sets a community of faith apart from the rest of the world. The early church inherently understood the value of connection, of being a blessing to one another, and of attending to the spiritual and physical needs of others.
When has the community of faith been a blessing to you? What are the gifts of Christian community? How important has being a part of a community of faith been in your spiritual growth and development?
In prayer, thank God for the faith community of which you are a part and commit yourself to deepening (or maybe reestablishing) your connection to it.