The Significance of Community

The house is a bit quieter this morning.  Clayton left just before eight to head back to Lexington to begin his third year at the University of Kentucky.  His coming and going has now become a part of our ongoing family narrative...an altogether routine marker along our continuing journey.  I was talking this week with someone whose oldest child will start middle school this fall, remembering the first time I met this soon-to-be teenager.  She was just a toddler then, very busy and fully consumed by the wonder of the world around her.  She has matured in many ways since then, and I reminded her mother that heading off to middle school was just another chapter in a story that was all too quickly being written.  Almost immediately, I remembered that others had said the same thing to me  as Clayton prepared to go to middle school, and now eight quick years later, I'm offering the same advice, not as a seasoned veteran who has all the answers, but a fellow traveler on this rapidly moving roller coaster of parenting.

 

These shared experiences remind us of the significance of community.  Parenting is but one of the transitional experiences of life that link us to others. Though uniquely created by God, each of us are connected in so many different ways to other individuals, families, and groups where we find some sense of commonality. We are alternately comforted and discomforted by this truth whenever such comparisons are made, and yet, they serve to remind us that we are walking in this moment where others have walked, are walking, or will walk someday.  In one of Clayton's favorite movies from childhood, The Lion King, they referred to this connection as "the circle of life."

 

And so, whether one is sending a child off to college, middle school, or kindergarten, settling into a life-long career, edging into retirement, or taking the last steps and breaths of life, there is a connection that binds us to others.  As a person of faith, I ultimately view this connection in the context of an ever-present God whose guiding hand is at work today, as it has been before, and will continue to be.  The theme verse of our August Sundays, Hebrews 13:8, speaks to this truth: "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever."    That is the greatest hope and connection we share.

 

Sunday morning we will gather again at 9:30 in the Sanctuary for worship, followed by fellowship time in Whitten Hall.  Bring a friend along with you and come expectantly as we worship the living Lord!

 

Yes, the house is quieter today. I'll take a deep breath, then remember that Max and Cindy will do their part to liven the calm, and before I know it, Clayton will be home for Thanksgiving.  Life is good!

 

Jim Abernathy