Everyone has an innate gift to bring life to others. Since God created us for community, we’re wired for relational connections. We were never meant to live alone and those that do know there’s something missing, an abnormality that goes agains
t our conscious thoughts. With lonely souls scattered all over the world its obvious something has gone wrong. Starting relationships can be hard work, let alone developing ones that thrive. So finding ourselves in community can be harder than we imagine.
t our conscious thoughts. With lonely souls scattered all over the world its obvious something has gone wrong. Starting relationships can be hard work, let alone developing ones that thrive. So finding ourselves in community can be harder than we imagine.
Two things I’ve see a lot of this month in Belfast… laughter and tragedy. You can find laughter at parties and feasts. Tragedy however is found when the idols that we worshiped finally reveal themselves to be frauds at inauspicious times. I’ve noticed an interesting aspect from the parable of the prodigal son on laughter and tragedy. The younger son found both tragedy away from the Father and laughter during the welcoming feast prepared for him. Each experience was played out void of the older brother, who sat alone outside community set before him.
Something I’ve learned from the older brother and Belfast is… you can spend your whole life with idealistic thoughts on how life should be, but life will never go the way you want it to. Instead of wasting your time in narcissism, you can be making friends with people who together support each other through life’s good and bad.
A man named Joe operates S.O.S. Bus. Every Friday and Saturday night from around 11-4am Joe and groups of volunteers setup coffee, tea, biscuits and candy in Belfast’s City Centre. For no other reason than to love and serve each other we invite drunks, homeless and anyone else on the street. We talk, laugh and if someone comes up in a tragic situation we offer all the help we can muster. There is no personal agenda for this. S.O.S. Bus doesn’t make money nor is it used for evangelism (although most people already know we’re Christians). Joe just has a simple idea to help people where they are. And because of his idea the lonely laugh and those in the middle of tragedy have a shoulder to lean on. That’s what I consider community. 
