Day 18 -- Authentic Community

"God enables us to love the fear out of one another." -- Rick Warren

I think it was psychiatrist M. Scott Peck (author of The Road Less Traveled and People of the Lie) who talked about the movement from pseudo-community into authentic community. He insisted that rarely in human community do human beings ever move past pseudo-community because the risk of the vulnerability inherent in radical authenticity is too great.

But personally, I long for this sort of community...the kind that loves and accepts us where we're at...but lets us work out the stuff of being human and that catalyzes transformation in our lives and relationships.

Warren writes today, "We give to one another the same uncommon safety Christ gives us--to be real, to be sad, to be messed up and confused, yet, to be loved. God challenges us to create a community where we love like our lives depend upon it (1 Peter 1:22, Msg) and where we can each 'live and move and have our being' "(Acts 17:28, NIV).

My prayer for us today, is that God would indwell us in such a way that we really ARE empowered to love the fear out of each other. Wow. That would be powerful.

"Lord God, bring us your 'go to the cross--loved us too much to stay dead' sort of love that we might love each other out of our fear and solitude into the fullness of the Kingdom of God today. Amen"

Pastor Nathan