Next Steps - Oct 25

"Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man." -- Genesis 2:18-22

The story of God's creation of man and woman has always fascinated me. God created the heavens and the earth. God created all of the animals and the birds and fish and then he made man. Everything up until the point of man being in the garden with the animals with all of creation was deemed by God to be good. Yet God declared that Man being alone -- even in a perfect world and in perfect community with Go -- to not be good: "It is not good that the man should be alone."

Jesus said that all of the laws of God are summed up in the duel command to love God and love your neighbor. We sometimes think it is hard to love God, but that is because so many things block our ability to really see him. If we truly see God we cannot but love him. Really the first part of the equation is the easy part. It's the love your neighbor that's really hard. If we see each other as we really are, we can be hard to love. But, that is God's plan. It is His design. It is his likeness. If we love one another, Jesus says, people will know that we are Christians.

We live in a society and a time in history that values autonomy, rugged individualism and lone rangers. Yet God seems to values community, togetherness, and connectedness.

• How does this challenge you?
• Why do you think God wants us to be in community?
• What are the dangers of individualism?
• What does it look like to live the "inward journey" in community?
• What does it look like to live the "outward journey" in community?
• What is one thing you could do today to move into "more" community?
• What is one thing that we as a church can do to move into "more" community?
  

Make sure you share your learning and practice stories with others.

Peace, Hope and Love
Doug