The Church II ...

Tuesday, September 27, 2011. Church is community. But what type of community do we find in church? There are many different people, with different character and differnt background …

What Type of Community? …

I have been in quite different churches over time. My job brought me to new places several times, and I usually picked some local church and went there for the time I spent in the country. So I could experience a whole collection of churches in England, the US and in Germany. I must say that it was a very good experience. Everywhere I found people who had an open mind and open heart!

I thought abut writing “everywhere I found friends”. But with “friend” I can mean a friendly person who like me, or someone who is becoming a part of my life, who knows me better. Friends in the more serious sense will keep contact throughout their whole life. Friends in the deep sense are much more difficult to find, and it usually takes time to build up such a friendship! In friendship there is something which resonates … and it does not change over time. Deep friendship is much more than just being friendly.

What type of friendship do you find in church? I would say first of all it is the more general type of friendship. There are many people, many different characters. Usually people are quite open, they are friendly, and they are willing to help you here or there, in particular when you are new to the area. Deep friendship is always more difficult to find, that also applies to church.

Limits and Possibilities …

The people in church are willing to help, but they all have their own responsibilties as well. They have families, there are exams coming up and many carry out various duties. So there are limits in time and effort, you cannot expect that you come and everyone is just waiting to put a lot of time into you.

Often, people have strong expectations when they come to a church community. They believe the others now should love them and that this means they should be their deep friends. Then, at some point, they realize that it is not deep friendship and the disappointment is strong.

But church is first the community with the Lord himself. He can become our deep friend and much more than that, our true father and the force which completely fills our life with grace, truth and love. Then, from him, we can start to build relationships to the others. Not everyone can be our deep friend, there is just not enough capacity to do this in a single life. But there can be special relationships shaped by the Lord. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts