What does intentionality look like when life takes you outside of your community? I ask this question because I think it is something so many of us deal with. It would be beautiful if we were all able to quit our jobs and simply spend every waking moment loving the people in our communities. Those that can are incredibly blessed (or even more those that a paid to do it!), but for most of us, life (i.e. jobs, activities, school, friendships, church, etc) take us outside of the community in which we live. For many of us that relegates intentional community to a place beside catch phrases like “community transformation” or “missions” that we all want to be a part of, but very few can fit it into life.
So I ask, what does it mean to live intentionally in our respective communities, when our time there is limited? As I strive to live and relate intentionally to the people around me, I am fully encountering how difficult it is. I work 40-50 hours a week, and when I get home, I want to spend time with my incredible wife. Marriage must and always will be our first ministry (for those of us who are married), a responsibility that takes presedence over any other ministry. By the time I get home and spend a little time with my wife (I’m not sure “too much time with spouse” exists – at least not yet!), the day is almost over and I haven’t even done anything in my community, let alone anything that I usually enjoy doing (exercise, reading, relaxing!). Anybody relate to this? So what do we do?
I am realizing just the immensity of our endeavor to reach The Bluffs. We cannot do it alone – I don’t think we were intended to. I know that cannot really expect myself to build community with everyone, but when there is no one else doing it, the feeling that we fight is that we must do it all. So, we are learning three things: 1) we am absolutely dependent upon God. 2) We desperately need others to come and join us (yes, move into The Bluffs with us), and 3) we must learn to be content with the relationships God brings us (note: content does not mean complacent, and is not an excuse to limit intentionality).
Bonheoffer wrote in Cost of Discipleship, “There is no way from one person to another. However loving…sympathetic…frank and open our behavior, we cannot penetrate the incognito of the other man, for there are no direct relationships, not even between soul and soul. Christ stands between us, and we can only get into touch with our neighbors through him. That is why intercession is the most promising way to reach our neighbors, and corporate prayer, offered in the name of Christ, the purest form of fellowship.”
In that light, I ask this of you: intercede on our behalf. We desperately want to welcome those around us into relationship with us and with Christ Jesus. Join us in intercession for The Bluffs.