A Call to Community.

 



Christian Greetings Beloved,

For millennia, our greatest thinkers, philosophers, and spiritual leaders have pondered life’s deepest questions, seeking to unravel the mysteries of existence, purpose, and meaning. Yet despite their efforts, many of us today still feel disconnected from these questions, lost in the relentless busyness of daily life. Perhaps one reason we struggle with questions like, “What is the meaning of life?” is that we approach them from the wrong angle. Instead of focusing solely on life, maybe we should turn our gaze toward death—not in an obsessive or morbid way, but as a lens through which life can be understood more clearly. Chinese philosophy offers profound insight into this. The ancient sages recognized that life and death are inseparable parts of the same cosmic cycle. Lao Tzu observed, “All things such as grass and trees are soft and supple in life. At their death, they are withered and dry.” While I cannot claim to know the answer to life’s greatest question, these words reveal a simple yet profound truth: life is marked by flexibility, fluidity, and growth, while death is characterized by rigidity, brittleness, and decline. Life, in its deepest sense, is found in both growth and community. To grow is to live—to be open to change, learning, and becoming more than we are. But growth cannot happen in isolation. Just as no tree thrives alone, we too need the soil of community. Life gains meaning not in solitary striving, but through the strength and support we receive from others. It could be said that life is a movement toward wholeness—a movement toward God. True growth happens when we are rooted in fellowship, when we lift each other up and allow ourselves to be shaped by the love, wisdom, and struggles of those around us. God calls us not just to personal transformation, but to shared purpose—to be a living part of His body, growing together in love. Therefore Beloved, Let us not shrink from this call to community. May we seek to grow not only for ourselves, but for the sake of the community He has placed us in. In doing so, we fulfill the fullness of life He desires for us—alive in personal faith and in the fellowship of His people.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On Troublesome Creek

Image
  Christian Greetings Beloved,  Troublesome Creek flows for roughly 42 miles through eastern Kentucky, traversing Perry, Knott, and Breathitt counties. Its headwaters begin at the confluence of the Left and Right Forks near Hindman, Kentucky, and its mouth empties into the North Fork of the Kentucky River near Haddix, just outside Jackson. Long before modern industry and coal mining arrived, much of the area surrounding the creek was occupied almost entirely by mountain men and pioneers. Around 1892, William Wolman described the headwaters as pristine; he noted abundant aquatic life in its waters and lush banks lined with rhododendrons. I spent much of my childhood in that same creek, Troublesome. I’ve no doubt that, despite all the tires and other debris, it’s still just as beautiful today as when Wolman saw it in the late 1800s. Among the animals I caught were many types of salamanders, darters, freshwater mussels, snapping turtles (both soft-shell and common), gar, various ...
Read more

When Simeon held the infant Christ.

Image
  Christian Greetings Beloved,  Simeon stands in the temple courts, a man whose soul has been tuned to the voice of God. He has waited long, not in idle anticipation but in a holy readiness, his eyes ever watching for the moment when the promise would be fulfilled. And now, in the quiet of a morning like any other, he sees them—an unassuming couple, carrying a child. The world passes by this scene with indifference, but Simeon, moved by the Spirit, recognizes what others cannot. He sees the answer to every longing, the fulfillment of the covenant, cradled in a pair of human arms. What stirs me most about this moment is not merely Simeon's patience but his spiritual sensitivity. The old man had spent his years waiting, but not as one who waits passively. He was alive to God, fully engaged in the divine promise, and his heart was set on what others had long forgotten or failed to see. Simeon’s faith was not in the temple rituals themselves, nor in the visible structures of relig...
Read more
Image
Christian Greetings Beloved, The Cloud of Unknowing is a profound 14th-century mystical text that guides the reader into a relationship with God that transcends the intellect. The anonymous author suggests that in order to draw close to God, one must move beyond the grasp of the mind. This cloud, which both conceals and reveals, invites the soul into a kind of "unknowing" that feels paradoxical at first but is transformative. For the author, true knowledge of God isn’t found in theological certainties or intellectual clarity but in a place where our hearts are laid bare before Him, open and willing to be transformed. This journey into the "cloud" reflects the Christian doctrine of theosis, or divinization, which is the process of becoming more like God in holiness, love, and character. Theosis is the calling to participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), not by understanding God fully but by entering into a relationship of deep intimacy with Him. Through the mys...
Read more