Tag: community

No Man Is an Island

Those That SeekLeave a comment

No man is an island, entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main; if a clod be
washed away by the sea, Europe is the less
as well as if a promontory were, as well
as if a manor of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind;
and therefore never send to know for whom the
bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

This poem by John Donne has been a favorite of mine since the first time I read it. It describes the interconnectedness of humanity, something we’re recognizing globally as this virus continues to spread. Measures of physical isolation, to varying degrees, have been instituted across the world.

I want to hone in on two ideas related to this poem and to our current shared experience. The first thing is this idea of social distancing and interconnectedness. The longer these measures are drawn out, the more many people will realize for the first time that we actually need one another. We weren’t made to go through life alone. Sure, some personalities have a greater capacity to remain alone for extended periods, but human contact is essential for our well-being. This is what makes something like a pandemic particularly hard. In order to stop it, we have to limit our connections. It goes against something that has been built into us, community. “It is not good that man should be alone.“

The second thing I want to draw attention to is empathy. Donne finishes this poem recognizing that at each funeral bell we hear, a small part of us dies as well. We’re in the midst of a pandemic and many lives are being lost. It remains to be seen what the impact of the virus will be here in the US or even in many other parts of the globe where it is just now beginning to spread. Nevertheless, I think we would be better for it to recognize the loss of life and empathize with those in pain because whether we like it or not, we’re involved in mankind. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.“

He Hears

Those That SeekLeave a comment

Psalm 107:1-3; 17-21

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    whom he has redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

17 Some were fools through their sinful ways,
    and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
18 they loathed any kind of food,
    and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them,
    and delivered them from their destruction.
21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!
22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
    and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

Today is a day for joy. It’s hard for me to read a passage like this and not feel gratitude. In some ways, I can’t speak for the experiences of every person, but deep down there are things that I know are true about us all. I know that we have all experienced hurt, and if you haven’t, I’m confident that you will at some point. It’s not that I like to be overdramatic about these things, but I do like to tell things like they are. So, at some point in our lives we have or we will experience brokenness. We’ll have to come to terms with our failures and our shortcomings. We’ll have to grapple with the fact that we are far from perfect. We are, in fact, sinful.

We like to always paint this as a complete negative, but I’m not always confident that it is. We are sinful, but it’s our sin that exposes our need for others and ultimately for God. We realize that it’s really hard to go through life alone and that we can’t always naturally pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We need a supernatural help from the Lord.

The good news is that a passage like this tells us some things about who God is. He has gathered together in one body, the global church, to be his heirs and to encourage, equip, and love one another. I know that this isn’t everyone’s experience with churches. Unfortunately, there are many people who have distorted the image and function of the church to be something that it was never intended to be. It was never intended to be oppressive, yet that’s many people’s experience. It was never intended to be abusive, yet many experience abuse at its hand. Despite the deeply distorted portrait of the church that some communities portray, it isn’t always aligned with the biblical vision of how things should look and function.

19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress.
20 He sent out his word and healed them,
    and delivered them from their destruction.

God does not promise deliverance from hardship in this lifetime, nor does he promise to end discomfort on your timeline. God is in this for the long haul. He has eternity in mind and is concerned with a spiritual freedom that only he can promise. Nevertheless, he has called the church to seek justice and relief on behalf of others. One of the charges of the church is to care for those who are struggling. We serve a God who hears the cries of his people. We serve a God who heals and who delivers. God hears your voice when you cry out to Him. It’s a time of joy and a time of thanksgiving. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Prayer and Reflection

If you feel like you need to cry out to God about something, do it. If the Psalms show us anything, they show us that it’s okay to do that. Cry out because He will hear you.