The Pull of Community

No one had told me beforehand to be prepared to share, but from experience I knew that going to a gathering one should always be prepared to teach and share something that you yourself are learning. So before going, I considered what I could share and looked up a few things to see how they’ve been translated in the local language.

Group walk to village sights

Once I was settled into the gathering, the request to share soon came. I would be sharing second. As the first woman shared, I couldn’t help but smile. She was sharing on the same theme! Perhaps God was trying to get a message across. The theme was love—love God, love one another.

 At first glance, island community seems so strong.  They have a strong national identity, religious identity, and place identity.  They are isolated and homogenous, so most of the time their culture does not have to interact or clash with other cultures, it goes unchallenged as it is.  The cultural rhythms of weddings, circumcisions, religious holidays, fasting and feasting create deep connections.  This is a strong community.

Yet there is also weakness—at its foundation island community is deeply broken.  Community is built on shared experience and trust, but trust is a serious issue for islanders.  Countless islanders have confided in us their inability to trust anyone! Even their own family.  Women will often say “you can’t trust men—ever!” Men say the same about women and both have good reason.  No one trusts the government, and religious leaders are often called out for their hypocrisy—and of course everyone gossips about everything—even their close friends.

Our daughter at gathering

We all long to be part of community. Sometimes islanders find community within their family or neighborhoods and those bonds are strong.  But others have been hurt and mistreated by those around them and they long for real community.  They may be searching for something better or they may have given up and settled for whatever they can find, jaded and hardened by their experiences.

Our community is supposed to be marked with love. A love that is forgiving and patient. A love that continues through hard times and good, through both tears and rejoicing. A love that sometimes does what is best for a person, not just what they want. A love that accepts people even when they are a mess. A love that should touch all our relationships both within our community and outside.  

At the gathering, we shared and discussed. We prayed. We laughed. We ate. We chatted. As I looked around the gathering, I reflected on this community. Some are part of the community because of ideas and values. Others are only on the outskirts of the community, but had come to this gathering nonetheless. To be honest, some may have been there for the food, but others were there because of relationship. Someone had connected them to this group and so they came. So while I’m not sure what they thought of the ideas we were discussing (whether they were intrigued by them at all), they enjoyed the community.  We hope that they experienced something different.  We hope we were marked by love and that they could see that.

Love is a powerful thing and it draws people in. People want to be part of loving community. But to love well is something that we fail at in our own power. People are messy. Conflict comes. Human patience wears thin. Trust breaks down. No, the kind of enduring love that is supposed to mark our community can’t come from us—we need a greater source.  When a community taps into that source—when it loves like that—it is a testimony of great power.

The return of weddings

PRAYERS ANSWERED
Our visitor from last week got her negative COVID test result and was able to leave the islands as planned! We had our first English Club at our house after two months— all of our old faithful attenders came and it was really good to see them and to reconnect. We are feeling much better, thanks for praying for our upset stomachs. The women’s gathering went very well and was encouraging.

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for loving community on the islands— the women had a great gathering, we’d love to see the men make steps towards greater community too! The translation project is having another week of online consultation sessions this week—pray for the health of everyone involved, clear communication and strong internet connections. One of our teammates is still suffering from COVID complications (2 months later). Pray for full feeling— for energy, for good night’s sleep, for no more achyness and no shortness of breath. Our friend and former teammate now living on the French island threw out her back, pray for her healing, especially as she is pregnant and has two little ones at home. Many islanders are gearing up to do a bunch of weddings in the coming weeks before the month of fasting begins in April. Pray for our team as we attend weddings that we’d be able to deepen relationships and share truth at them. We have been working on a proposal for higher leadership about how teams are supported— pray for us as we communicate our thoughts and experiences to others.