Community with a Lack of Communication.

In the American social structure we are largely separated from groups and forced to do things on our own. It has been drilled into our heads though movies and grades that we are for all intensive purposes on our own. Movies where the main lines are “There can be only one” or cop shows where the main character says “I don’t do partners.” I am not saying that only these types of shows exist but they are the less cheesy ones and with super cool characters that take on the world. I like to think of the example Die Hard. Bruce Willas wants help but he doesn’t need it and whenever the police on the ground step in they do something stupid and almost get every hostage killed. Another example is when we are graded in school. We may do group projects but some teachers say that depending on the amount of work you do you will be graded appropriately. Classes in College are no better at propagating community. We are in competition with everyone else to beat the average and pray for everyone else to do poorly on the test to lower the curve. The fact of the matter is that we have been conditioned to thing that we don’t need anybody to help us in any aspect of our lives. America the Land of the Lone Wolf and the home of the do it yourself attitude.

            In reality we need people, we need community. A lot of times I feel that animals get this concept a lot better than we do. The honey bee colony knows that if you don’t do your job the whole group dies and most primates live in groups where they build tools and gather food for the females. Why is this so easy for all these species? We are humans, built for communications built for living together in cooperation and community. But we don’t do that, as humans we have evolved to using language and complex studies of others to communicate with them but a lot of people don’t even know their own neighbor. Our society dictates that we are individuals, and that we maintain that individuality no matter what or you are no longer considered a man. How many times do College age students end up in huge debt or crippling depression and don’t seek help? How does that turn out of them? Usually it ends up in an attempt to commit suicide. How messed up are we that the ones who are struggling, being attacked by culture, have to resort to an attempt on their life to get attention, to ask for help?

            We as a culture have gone wrong somewhere. The idea of living together working towards a common goal is not only beneficial it is necessary. In Genesis 2 it says “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him.” Even before our fall before we think about committing sin we are in desperate need for this sense of community, and family. That is why so many church groups created small community groups. We were not designed to live alone like the wolf. In Ecclesiastes 4:10 Solomon says “If one falls down, his friends can help him up. But pity the man who falls and no one is there to help him up.” Basically my point is that if we join groups that are selfless and care for one another we will be stronger for it, we will have a platform to stand on and people to help lift our burdens, our debts, or our sins. Let us be like the penguins and help each other. Take burdens for one and other, and give our burdens to the group. Let us find groups in which we choose to trust with our whole lives, not just parts of it. And let us share with our friends and be truly selfless followers of Christ. And remember “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12

 Faith is not done alone,

Cyrus Schaaf