Community - it just feels right

The pastor at the church start-up I've been going to asked me to share a bit about my transition to Colorado at church tonight. I wrote up what turned out to be a short essay on the importance of community, and thought I might as well share it. Enjoy!

During college, I spent 6 months studying abroad in Australia. I learned a lot that semester – not only about the world outside of the States, but also about myself and the things that are important to me. I spent a week traveling through the center of Australia during spring break. I remember standing out at Ayer’s Rock one evening, watching the sunset paint the rock a brilliant red. The evening was quiet and calm, the surroundings were beautiful, but I distinctly felt like something was missing. More than anything in the world, I was wishing I could share that moment with someone else.

One of my mottos, which grew from experiences similar to that one, is “experiences are the key to life, and people are the key to experiences.” God created us to be relational people. I believe that we not only serve God more completely in community, but that we can also SEE God more completely in community. Victor Hugo said, “To love another person is to see the face of God.” God reveals himself not only through the Bible, but through our interactions with each other.

So you can imagine that when I moved to Colorado this past summer from the Bay area, I was longing for community in a big way. What drew me to the Boulder Project was the concept of intentional community that they were creating. I felt like their desire to bring people together in all different types of settings is a great model for how God intends us to live.

I had a pretty tough time transitioning into Boulder this fall. I missed the life that I left behind, and I longed to understand God’s plan for me here. To tell the truth, I spent most of my time questioning that God even had a plan. I just didn’t feel like myself when I wasn’t surrounded by the people I loved.

This move has taken me outside my comfort zone in a lot of ways. It often takes leaving a place to gain some perspective on what you left. I realized finding community means not only getting to know people, but being known by people. It was being known that I missed so much.

But moving here has also allowed me to witness some amazing things. I have been impressed by those who have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome – inviting me to social gatherings and out for coffee – despite the fact that they barely know me. I don’t know that I really did that when I was living in Berkeley, but I quickly realized how important it is that people did that for me here.

It is abundantly clear to me that God is present even when I feel completely alone. I have no doubt that his love for me is quite independent of whether or not I am “in community.” But I do believe that I am more myself as part of this community than I am without it. The Boulder Project doesn’t necessarily define who I am, but it certainly does affect who I am. And I believe that as a community, we can affect Boulder in a more profound way than we ever could by ourselves.

I spent part of this past week back in California for work. Several people asked me how I was liking Colorado, and I found myself, for the first time, enthusiastically saying, “I really love it there.” That response has nothing to do with the beautiful mountain views and the great hiking. It has everything to do with finally feeling like I am part of a community.