Tag Archives: community

Throwback Sundays…The Best Community of People I Know

They are people who I can laugh with, cry with, rest with, worship with, vent to, be silent with, dream with, pray with, work with, be challenged by, and serve with. It is a community that I believe with my whole heart is the reason God brought me to Nashville. It is a community that I get incredibly excited about when I think of how God has used them and will continue to use them for His Kingdom. (full post here)

My community has certainly changed faces in the year & a half I’ve been in Nashville. As life’s seasons change so do relationships. But, community is still strong. It’s one thing Nashville does well – the thing that I find people who move here never knew they were missing until they discover they have it 8 months later. I tweeted the other day that home is where everybody knows your name. And that’s exactly what Nashville is. Most days it feels like a never ending episode of Cheers & I simply love it.

I hope you have good community that you’re spending Sunday with! :)

 

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Ponder…Severest Tests of Friendship

It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults.
So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving words, that is friendship.
-Henry Ward Beecher

Comment Deep Thinking, Just Life

The Kind of Friends…

The world has a million things to say about the essence of “friendship.” And while many of them may be true, the last two weeks of life have taught me that true friendship is so much more than I could ever put words to. To say I’ve rediscovered the value of friends who truly walk life with me would be an understatement. I’m talking the kind of friends who you can call or text at any moment whether you are happy or angry or sad. The kind that you can rehash a story with over and over and over…and they’ll actively listen every time. The kind that love you enough to call you out when you need it…even if you don’t want it. The kind that know you inside, outside, & upside down. The ones you couldn’t lie to if you tried. Those friends are truly priceless. And I believe we all need those friends more than we know. My hope for you is that you have friends who truly walk life with you. I think it’s supposed to be that way.

And to those friends who walk life with me all I can say is “thank you!”

If one falls down, his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! – Ecclesiastes 4:10

 

1 Comment Deep Thinking, Just Life

Learning to Love. Discovering Community. Living Justice.

When I visited Nashville a year ago I kept putting off going back to Wisconsin. First I was going to leave Sunday. Then Monday. And finally convinced myself to hit the road on Tuesday.

But after that Monday evening I was sure glad I stayed. I like to think that was God’s plan all along. Because that Monday night God planted the seed in my heart that He might have something for me in Nashville. And that something was community. It was learning how to love. How to simply be. All with the thread of justice running through it.

A friend invited me to come and hang out with what essentially was a big group of friends who got together to make food and serve it to the homeless in downtown Nashville. I remember leaving that night with a million thoughts in my head but blown away by the fact that I had shared my story…a 5 minute, honest, from the heart, version of it…to more people in those 3 hours than I had in probably 3 years. And I didn’t even know those people.

The group now has an official name – People Loving Nashville. And still meets every single Monday night…rain, shine, tornados, snow…you name it.

When I go and sit on the floor in a big circle as we gather for a devotion before heading out I am overwhelmed at what is around me. It’s a group of mostly 20 & 30 somethings, all with incredibly different stories, all from different churches…some not from any church. No one comes out of obligation. No one is getting credit for being there. They come compelled by one thing: love. And that love is the foundation of a community not just among those of us serving but the people we serve as well. It’s grown in size since I first visited but it still feels like a big group of friends getting together to cook some food and give it to those in need. A community strung together by love and a heart for justice.

After missing far too many weeks in a row I made it back downtown last night. And again I was overwhelmed. As I sat in that circle I couldn’t help but think of being there almost a year ago to the day…that first time was actually today…April 26th…and the community that I discovered that night. It was and is one of the most beautiful expressions of being the Church…of living justice…I’ve seen.

I don’t have it all neatly sorted out…perhaps I never will. And maybe that’s okay. But, I’ve discovered this past year that love, community, and justice all seem to go hand in hand. Sure, they can exist independently but their meaning and purpose is most fully seen when they mesh together in messy layers.

I found it fitting last night that the devotion last night was from 1 Corinthians 5 focusing on renewal…about leaving behind the old and living in the new because that is what Christ won for us with His death and resurrection. I have left a lot behind in the last year. A lot that too often I want to drag with me. But God has worked renewal in my life through love, community, and living justice. And it was all planted on a cool but muggy April night in Nashville.

 

 

2 Comments Church, Deep Thinking, Just Life, Relationships

Jump Start Your Dream

Do you have a daunting dream you want to pursue but no idea where to begin? Or maybe fear has you stuck.

Sometimes one of the most important things in fighting that resistance is people who will stand behind us. I know I’ve learned the value of having a community of supportive relationships that pushes me & supports me in the pursuit of crazy ideas. Ben Arment is one of those people & one of the most motivational people I know. He’s also been through the process enough times himself to have learned a thing or two :)

Ben launched Dream Year in 2010 which is a year-long coaching process to launch your dream. But you have the opportunity to get a condensed version of the process in just one weekend.

Dream Year weekends are designed not only to give you great content & insight into the process of launching your dream, but also a place to connect with people who will support & push you in the pursuit of your God-given dream. I attended the Dream Year weekend in Nashville & loved it! The next one is coming up in Washington D.C. June 3rd-5th & you still have time to get in on the fun. Check here for more information or to register!

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Community or Socialized Christianity?

I was talking with a friend recently and she was telling me about a new church she had been attending. As she was describing it she said something that struck me: “I can’t figure out if it’s got good community or just great socialized Christianity.”

OUCH! That made me think. I took a step back and looked at what I currently called my community and what I had called community in the past. And without a doubt, what I currently call my community is good community. It’s Biblical community. It’s much more than socialized Christianity. Unfortunately, I think we get the two confused quite often.

What do you think makes good community rather than just great socialized Christianity?

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