Paris. Community.

I visited Paris once. At the age of 19 God gave me the opportunity to spend January to tour Europe. It was an informative trip. With 40 other kids who almost 20 years later I do not even know anymore. There we were in our bright American rain coats, carrying our backpacks and fanny packs, not blending into the culture, not knowing the culture. Not being known by the culture.
(By the way, who knew fanny was a bad word in Europe? I was oblivious. The man across from me on the train was not. His red face containing laughter directed at me was obvious).

We didn't know this culture because we didn't give time to relationships there. We were in a hurry to fit all the castle tours and operas and symphonies in during our stay. I fell asleep during Phantom of the Opera because of our pace. Hurried. Unaware. Blind to what was really happening in this city. We didn't build friendship with anyone there besides each other.

I cannot help but draw a parallel  between this hurried trip and our hurried culture. The world is passing us by and unless we're intentional to live differently we can be too hurried to know others and be known. We connect on a surface social-media-level, but don't' take the time to really get to know one another in a face-to-face medium. Pretending becomes an art, we post only the good, not the bad and the ugly. We share everything good, but do not really share our struggles with one another. Proposing we have a neat little tied up with a bow. We are unaware and blind to real struggle going on in our friend's and neighbor's lives. We do not go deep with one another because there is always another thing to get to, be involved in, strive for. And we are missing it. Missing God's plan for community.

As a church we can also be blind to the suffering of others outside the church. We stick to our "us" and they stick to their "them".  We know these people, our kids go to school with their kids. We are in many of the same circles but we build friendship with only those we know to believe as we do, and live as we do. The safe people. We drive into our garages, do not invite others to our home, holing up and soon we realize we do not spend our lives for others. And if I do say so, we are missing out. On the real culture. Authentic friendship. Things God might want to teach us, and for us to be filled fully. It's as though we are sleeping through Phantom of the Opera and we are completely unaware of the beautiful music and artistry of God we are missing.

God tells us in Luke 17:33 "If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it." We can no longer cling to just showing our good and keep things safe. We cannot just do what doesn't inconvenience us. We need to enter into real relationship with those different than us. And know and be known. Find real community. Untied bows and all.