If it’s brown flush it down, if it’s yellow let it mellow. This has led to a lot of peeing in other people’s pee. Quiet times occur with drums and about 20 other people all making noise. Electronics don’t get charged because they have been unplugged in favour of someone else’s stuff. Getting a shower in the morning usually means waiting for a good half hour or more in line. The showers aren’t even that exciting anyway. This is what community living can look like.
Sharing rubber bands, Tylenol, books and pens. Having a built in prayer team and encouragement and support network. Always having someone to share lunch with. Having other people to commiserate with over the goats and dear old Howie the chicken. This is also what community living looks like.
Community living isn’t always easy, but it definitely has it’s positive points. It is something that we as Christians have been called to do. Acts 4:32 says: The group of believers were united in their hearts and spirit. All those in the group acted as though their private property belonged to everyone in the group. In fact, they shared everything.
I read this verse today, just after yesterday having read chapter 10 of Rick McKinley’s book “This Beautiful Mess” about a type of community living. He says “Consider the revolutionary potential of sharing: What if you and your neighbours started sharing simple things, like a lawn mower. Why do the forty people on your street- who probably live like strangers to one another- all need a lawn mower that will run for only an hour a week? So let’s say you and just three others shared the same machine. In the process of four people sharing, you would save about six hundred dollars. What could you do for the kingdom with that? And think of the relationship building that would occur naturally while you worked out your plan”.
Just think of all of the things you don’t need, or that you could share with those around you. The relationships that can be built with your neighbours through sharing, and the ways you could play a part in the kingdom with all of the money that has been saved are incredible. Community living isn’t all about living in tents three feet away from one another, community living can be more than line ups for showers, and taking half an hour to load a bus. Community living is about sharing resources, making personal connections and working together to enhance the kingdom of God.
I encourage everyone to look at the things around you. How can you begin to build relationships with others, while sharing your resources? Where your treasure is, there your heart is also. McKinley asks “when you look at the way you give, share, and care, what kingdom does your checkbook proclaim?”
