A Strangely Charming Birthday Wish

I just read this today and getting onboard with it as quick as I can though I’m a little late. Put it to “Hawaiian time.”



Happy birthday wishes to Joanne Heim!



Again, I don’t know Joanne personally, which is the "strange" part of this celebration shout out, because we're strangers to each other. I only know her from listening to Grounded with Ryan Dobson and a couple Family Talk programs. I didn’t become aware of her blog until just about a month before her tough ordeal began but her blog has become a good friend that I like hearing from every so often. I'm inspired by her writing, by Toben’s writing about her, by their apparent faith, by just about everything through her blog. My first post about her ordeal is here.

So. Since I don't know her and don't know how to write more about her, here is my small thanks in the form of this post.

So. The theme is charm bracelets. When you read Joanne’s blog, you can instantly tell that she must have a lot of charms and not just on her bracelet. [Did you like that one, huh…? ;) ]

Years ago, I started making my own bracelet. I mean, I MADE it. I learned how to connect links to make the chain, I made it to fit my wrist, I searched out some charms for it.

Bear with me because it’s been a while since I’ve taken out my bracelet. Earrings and rings are my usual jewelry of choice so I don’t think I’ve worn my charm bracelet even once yet.



The charms on it are:
The Japanese symbol for “Happiness”
A pair of slippers [or what you mainlanders call “flip flops”]
An eighth note pair
Strawberry
Soccer ball
Airplane
Spider
Hawaiian turtle design
A quarter moon

Of course, each one has a meaning for me.

As someone who lives with anxiety/ depression, “happiness” seems like a myth at times. I am also part Japanese. The slippers remind me of being home in Hawai’i, even though I wish I could walk barefoot everywhere instead.

I love music, almost all kinds of music. In school and church, I was involved in choir, band, symphonic wind ensemble, and marching band. I love listening to my friends sing and was asked to help write songs at one point- still sad that the song-writing didn’t go through but I’d still like to try one day. It’s on my 40x40 list. I also have a memory of the time that a former boyfriend played the saxophone for me, before we got together- the charm is partly for him too.

The strawberry reminds me of things I like- I like strawberries! That is simple enough. One year, Dad’s coworker went to Hilo for a day, work related, and Girls’ Day had been two days before. Dad arranged for his coworker to pick up a dozen strawberry mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen for Mom and me! Yummmm! I wrote about it here.

Ahem, the soccer ball… yes. I… have a thing… for soccer players it seems. My brother and “brothers” played soccer when we were growing up, my dad coached them one year but I don’t know that it has anything to do with why I like soccer players. I don’t watch pro-soccer, I don’t really care about Beckham except that he has talent I hear. I have liked guys at school whom have played soccer. So this soccer ball charm reminds me of Dean first, and then my other former, Chris. It’s not that I have any attachment to them beyond friendship but that they were a significant part of my past, of who I am today.

The airplane is for all the trips I’ve been on but most specifically for going back and forth from home and first college for three years. I love to travel but I love being home more.

The spider reminds me of my friend and a hilarious moment; at least, it was funny to me. Mom found a huge spider in the house one day. I am okay with pretty much any bug except for roaches- will not go near a roach, even if it’s dead. So I bottled up the spider and took it to the Entomology department at the U to find out more about it. It was a typical cane spider, probably female. I put it in the backseat for the time being and went to pick up friends for an event. B in the backseat picked up the bottle. All we heard was a loud scream! And then big laughter from me and I think it was Julie in the passenger seat? B calmed down after that initial shock and even looked at the spider, as long as it remained securely enclosed. I let the spider outside when I got home again. I dug deep in my photo files for this pic.

The Hawaiian turtle design charm is to remind me of Chulo and his daughter J. When he told me he had a daughter, I think one of the first things I sent for her was a Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle [Honu] doll. She’s a bit older now and they live on the mainland so I’m not exactly sure what she’s into these days. I still send a turtle thing when I can.

The moon is for Popo from a part of her name. She died when I was barely two and all I remember about her is her funeral yet I have always sensed a strong connection to her.
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There you have it, my bracelet with charms. I need to find more to fill it with- there are so many more things and people that I’d like to carry with me. So don’t feel poorly for not being represented on my bracelet yet ‘cuz I’m not done yet!

Here’s a pick of a bracelet I sometimes wear. I got it from my favorite Jules. I like elephants also and these jingle-jingle!



Once again- Hope you have a jingling good birthday Joanne!

Mahalo for reading.
[Click on an image for a larger view]

A Successful Operation!

Ah, so ends Drop Off Week for Operation Christmas Child by Samaritan’s Purse.

Wow, it seemed like we had so much time to prepare and wait but now it seems like it went by so fast! This was our first time being a drop off center, so we had no idea what to expect. The first two days looked like we were in great stride with at least a hundred shoeboxes collected each day. Then… the number dropped off dramatically; days three, four and five picked up just under 50 boxes.

As expected though, Sunday was our big day. After churches let out, people and groups were dropping off loads of boxes! We also had quite a bit of helpers, so we put them to work with filling up shoeboxes with donations from our church. Actually, that screwed up the count for us, and I feel poorly about it. I didn’t watch and check out how they were keeping the count with those boxes, while the whole week I had come every day because I foresaw the count getting off. At least we had an accurate count for all the other individuals and groups who dropped off boxes. Anyways, everything turned out okay.



I thought today, the last day, would be slow. I figured, it’s a weekday, people are busy with work and family and getting ready for Thanksgiving and all that, it’s the first day of the week, but I think it was our second biggest day.
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So we made it through the week fine with only the hiccup about our church’s count. We had a goal of collecting 1000 boxes and… WE EXCEEDED IT! Just what I was hoping for! AND our church made up about 25% of the total, which was also good!

God, you’re awesome! And thank you for allowing me to be a part of this!



I have two things to definitely share [I might have forgotten something else].

First, was Saturday lunch. Driving in that day, I was thinking, our hours are from 10 am to 2 pm, over lunch time. How are we gonna get our workers lunch? I guess we’ll send someone out. No big deal. I wasn’t worried, I just thought it would’ve been nice if we had planned for it.

Then a little after I arrived and we opened, a volunteer came… with sandwiches and chips for us! And to log in some volunteer hours as well, but when I saw her and the food, it was like God saying “Don’t worry about it; don’t you know I got it covered?” The food was enough for us and for the group that met later that night.

Cheeky Charlie's excited about moving to another country!

The second thing to share was what Alpha’s mom shared. She said that Alpha got excited about the shoeboxes. He went to Ross’ and found out that they had pretty good prices for stuff, so he picked up stuff to put into a shoebox. Some of the stuff was things for a cold weather place, but he had the feeling that his box would go to a kid in a cold country, that those were the things he’s supposed to give.

Then we found out that the boxes from Hawai‘i are going to kids in Mongolia! How’s that for God moving Alpha and Alpha being obedient?



Oh! And a third thing: the most entertaining and great thing that happened was seeing a small car round the corner… and stall… then pull up to us. It was a small, white two-door car STUFFED, literally, with boxes! They stalled at the corner because they couldn’t see where to go! Two young ladies were in the car with boxes on their laps, piled high behind them, some on their heads maybe…! We opened the trunk to help them unload, and it was packed to the fullest with boxes! There was no space left for even an ant! It was truly awesome!



And last one, promise, for now: my mom's a perfectionist and so planned to make only 2 boxes, one boy box and one girl box. This kind of thing takes a lot out of her, but bless my mom, she's got a good heart. LC brought 5 boxes earlier in the week, so I told Mom that she gotta make more than LC! Sneaky buggah, yeah? I was half-kidding, because it was to motivate Mom for more boxes, though she's not competitive.

Well, Dad had to go sleep early this week while Mom does her stuff at night, so I ended up having to share my room with Mom so she could stay up and make the boxes; remember, I said she's a perfectionist. She wrapped them perfectly, packed them perfectly, and sent them perfectly with me to drop off. In the end, Mom made 5 boxes! :) So she said, "well, we tied LC." Good job, Mom!
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Ahhh, so I’m exhausted! But it’s a good exhausted. I’m still pretty jazzed about this whole operation! Can’t wait for next year!

From kids to kids, so adorable!

What A Week

October 24- Sunday.

I am so blessed to be with the K guys on Sundays. This day we heard a testimony from C’s friend and M led us in a lesson on “Hope.” Something that stuck out to me, something I’d heard before by third hand and this time hearing it first hand, is that we [believers] can laugh ‘cause we know how it ends; God wins. And in that I remember joy, peace and comfort.

I know, it doesn’t sound like much, like I have more to say about it and I could, but I’m gonna hold off on it.

I have returned to the endeavor of getting to know more people in the church. After the E&I Conference, I am more confident that I can and should do this and that it will have great value. I'm going to meet one new person at church each week, and I have to be the one to introduce myself to them; I can't phone this one in. In my mind, I still think I come off creepy or that I’ll say something ridiculous as I tend to do, yet again, the HS reminded me that ______. This day, I met G.



26- Tuesday with the ladies.

I got to spend some time with a couple of female friends and got some good news- one of them has set a date with her fiance! AND… she asked us to be in her party! It would be my first time in a party and I feel very honored.



27- A little pick up on Wednesday.

Tuesday night, I had asked Tank to help me with something. I almost chickened out with the asking. I got a somewhat non-committal answer. I almost chickened out on the confirmation the next day, but I definitely couldn’t get it easily done with Mom’s car and I knew the HS was urging.

I scoped out the job in the early afternoon; it would be made easier with Tank, his vehicle, and another guy. So after I called Tank, I scrambled in my mind and phone for another helper. I wanted to call someone in particular but knew it would be an even tougher job to ask him than it had been to ask Tank, and I couldn't be sure that I _____. I called up Pineapple instead and yes, he was available! Tank, Pineapple, Minnie and I went to get the job done in one trip. It’s still kinda weird ‘cuz I feel like I have nothing to say of any remote interest to Tank, I suck at small talk still, and I have nothing to say about the stuff he talks about, but it was a step towards hopefully better.



30- Saturday.

I met with Minister. We hadn’t met for about a month so we got caught up on some stuff. We prayed. He certainly is one to help remind me of the big picture. I mean, the big picture is so on my mind, but he’s helping me remember how much I have a role in it. I’m thinking I might have a role in drawing Minister out a little more so that he can do more of his role in the big picture. Or at least, I hope that I am being a positive influence.

I checked in with the K guys at the gym. Now that I’m really getting to know them and letting them get to know me, I can’t help but be blessed every time that I see them.

Alpha is asking me questions about things and I know God has something big coming up for him. Whether or not it’s in doing something with me, I am pretty excited to see what God’s gonna do through Alpha. Again, I’m hoping I am being a positive influence.

Then I went to support my family with CCF; they were having an event to kick off a new ministry. A week ago, Crusty had called me; she asked if I would help promote the night at my church. I have to say that I was surprised and honored that she would ask, and that I was able to say without hesitation that I would help. It’s not an easy thing for me, especially with one part of the group I was to promote to, so I remembered obedience and that it had been so long since I’ve been directly enlisted. I’ve wanted that someone recognize how much I love them and that I am here for them as much as they are here for me. Lately it’s been like people don’t remember, so thank God for this blessing of remembrance.

It was still difficult in the promoting ‘cuz I can forget to remind people about the bigger picture, the main point of things. And I get so sad about others’ conditions. But I did it, and as LK said, it will get easier the more I do it.

The event was good. Even though I wasn’t at my church, I intro’d myself to Ce from CCF. I saw some friends I don’t get to see often enough. Some of Fist’s friends saw me and so we talked.

I got to meet Crusty’s little boy for the first time! He’s so adorable; he couldn’t take his eyes off of his mama! I wanted to stay longer but left to do some prep for the next day.

Prep went fine yet still I didn’t get good sleep. I was so nervous and excited that I needed help in falling asleep and then I kept waking up!



31- A whole lot of stuff, that I shall continue this another time.

A Portrait of Excellence from Unity

Ephesians 4: 1-5, 11-16
Unity in the Body of Christ

[1]As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. [2]Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. [3]Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.[4]There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— [5]one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

[11]It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, [12]to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up [13]until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

[14]Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.[15]Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. [16]From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. [NIV]


This is the vision in my mind of a good church, with each person doing their part towards the advancing of God’s kingdom. A body united in moving forward, going wherever it is that the Holy Spirit leads them. This is one component of the vision I have for a ministry.

And I saw it in action the other week.

Hope Chapel West O‘ahu hosted the Equip & Inspire 2010 “No Limits” Conference. The conference was AMAZING. It was large. It was organized. It was moving. I could have stayed there for a whole month. I was truly equipped and inspired and I hope to share some of that in coming posts. If not, I have ordered the DVDs because I thought it was that amazing and I could not take notes fast enough! One can borrow the DVDs if one would like to view what happened.

Here, I’d like to focus on the HC WO church itself. I witnessed this church being the Body of Christ and moving as the Body of Christ.

The conference included 3 days of 4 main sessions, 12 breakout sessions, and 2 youth nights. People were volunteer working on teams for greeters, registration, vendors & convention coordination, several worship teams, dance & drama teams, A/V teams, ushers, refreshments, graphics, promotions, facilities coordination, and more. They got the adults involved, the youth involved, all kinds of people involved. No one was too busy to say a quick hello and small talk, even the supervising directors.

The worship sessions were awesome. I know some stuff about the worship leader- I trust that he’s a good Christian, that God is moving through him, that his focus is on God. At any one time, there were about 3 guitar players, a drummer, a keyboard player, about 6 singers, plus more. I mean that there were several variations of the worship team. They had male and female, old and young, different ethnicities. At times, this person’s voice led and then that person had a solo and somewhere in the middle another voice rang out, almost like it was coordinated but not rigid, or like it was being coordinated by the Holy Spirit, truly. They had hula dancers and sign language people mixed in a few times, right along with the worship, not as separate entities but as one united whole. Some of the worship members were involved in some of the drama intro videos also.

I’m not saying that the conference was perfect; I can’t know that everything ran smoothly and as it was supposed to. Yet, from an audience member’s perspective, it was thoroughly enjoyable. From where I sat and where I walked and what I observed, it was a perfectly run conference. Things were on time, ended on time, in good supply, etc. I have nothing to complain about. Nothing.

It’s possible that among the HC WO people, including volunteers and leaders, it’s possible that some were just going through the motions, just doing what they think is good without thought to glorifying God. It’s possible.

What is not possible is to have the majority of their congregation just going through the motions and produce the conference that they did.

I saw excellence from unity. They did what they promised; they equipped and inspired me and I know that others were affected as well. They gave all the credit to their main guy, the senior pastor, and his wife. The pastor and wife gave all the credit back to their workers. Credit was even given to their church members, whether they volunteered time or not because they hosted. The whole thing was amazing.
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I can list a number of reasons why I want to attend HC WO. I desire to be a part of that kind of unity and that kind of excellence that follows the unity. The church is closer to my home. My friend attends this church. I know that if I go there, I will grow, I will be loved, I will have no shortage of opportunities to serve Christ. I would BELONG there. At HC WO, I wouldn’t be invisible to the group that God calls me to; I wouldn’t be invisible to the church at large. At the moment, it would be easier to start off fresh at this church than to continue where I am.

Of all the churches I have ever visited, I would LOVE to be at HC WO. Next time, I will tell you why I’m not going to be attending HC WO any time soon.

Testimonies and Dilemmas

This past Sunday and Monday were pretty good. Sunday, I sat with a small group of friends and talked about whatever. We all got to know one a little better as he shared some stuff about his life and what God is doing. I love hearing testimonies and seeing the joy in peoples’ faces- it helps keep God real and fresh to me, besides what God is doing in my own life.

Monday, I had a good talk with another friend. He asked some pretty good questions. I’m still thinking about what my answers might be. I asked him about his testimony and he was willing to share.

I’ve been wondering what the purpose of the local church is. Base responsibility, what must the church do? One might say that the church is to teach the Bible. I think that’s a good thing to do, it might be a responsibility of the pastor, but are all these Sunday classes absolutely necessary? I’m not discounting the importance of teaching or that which this church is doing; I’m saying that it’s not absolutely necessary beyond the duty of the pastor, in my opinion.

I was telling Friend how I question the necessity of teaching from the local church because I received my teaching from outside of the church. Once I became a Christian in high school, the church hasn’t taught me much. Maybe I’m a rare exception. Friend said that he too received a lot of teaching by looking elsewhere, like broadcasts, books, conferences, etc.

It was reassuring to find that I’m not the only anomaly in church.

We both still believe it’s important to be a participant in the local church; I think community has to be a part of the purpose of the local church. What the means exactly isn’t concrete yet. The local church is not about the best pastor(s), the best programs, or the best worship. For me, it’s not even about my friends or family history there.


Back to being an anomaly, even our testimonies of how we came to choose Christ are quite different from how most testimonies seem to go. There are a lot of I-accepted-Christ-when-I-was-very-young or the I-was-completely-destitute-when-God-called-me testimonies. Don’t get me wrong, I love testimonies of all kinds, and the destitute ones can be most moving.

We’re both thinking up ways to start something good going on in the church where we’re currently stationed. One of the questions he proposed was, “if there was one thing at the church I wanted to see happen/ change, what would it be?” We both had very similar answers to this.

Anyways, I’m excited! Of course, it all still amounts to nothing if we just talk and not do anything, so we prayed about this also.


Quite possibly, the devil is trying to steal my joy.

The thing I wrote yesterday, about people thinking I’m an ass, I don’t know what to do about it. I’ve forgiven these people along with forgiving a great many things and other people.

However, this particular thing is not something they’re going to tell me to my face. It’s not something that will be an isolated incident; it’s going to happen again where it will help solidify their false perception of me. Since they didn’t tell me themselves, I can’t use the information.

It also bugs me because they have the same perception of someone else. The whole mess is helped on by others in the group who probably don’t realize this is the case because even within the group, people don’t tell each other the truth. I don’t think they mean to be deceptive, just that they’d rather keep the “peace.” The false perception thing smacks of their uncaring positions.

So this tugs at my wanting to personally be more open and honest with others. I could bring it up if they were my friends, but not all of them are, perhaps. Can I be in true community with people who are not being honest with me? Some are asking me to trust the group. This isn’t the only incident where they have gossiped about me. How much can I trust them now? I trusted them before and they lost it. I’m not saying they need to value my trust, I’m just saying that there was a time when I did and now I don’t so much.

I believe that if members of a Christian group cannot genuinely care for each other, then the service we do for others will not mean much. It will hurt our testimony of glorifying God. People might be grateful for being fed or clothed or whatever service we provide, but once they get a hint of disunity, nothing else will really matter.

I’m not angry about this new information. I am a bit irritated but understand why they didn’t tell me themselves. I’m just trying to figure out if it can be resolved without dusting up more mess.

That is the dilemma.

Visiting With Xairo: The Full Release

The other night I attended Xairo: The Full Release held at Leeward Community Church. It was a good energizing time of full-out worship and other performances in the Christ-Community.

I drove into the parking lot and was guided by a police officer and church volunteers. Parking was on the lawn. They had it pretty well organized, having marked off lanes with cones and such.



Inside, to open, Third String Redemption warmed up the crowd with some worship. Then an area up front was cleared for the performance by the All Nations dance crew. More worship with David Tamaoka & Band.

One of the songs, “One Way,” was a song that I’ve sung many times but something caught my thoughts this night. In the lyrics are the words, “We live by faith and not by sight for you.” Previously, I’ve connected these words with how Christians believe even in these days when we haven’t seen the physical Christ or even when we can’t point out and say, “Look, there is God!” This night, I also connected the words with how Christians have to live, being distracted by what other people say and do, being discouraged by this reality and with what we see in the world, feeling hopeless because of what we see in ourselves. As a Christian, one does live by faith, faith that God is here, that he is in control, that he loves us, that he redeemed us.

Which brings me also to a song I heard for the first time, “How He Loves” written by John Mark Mcmillan. David Tamaoka told us how he connected this song with the words of John 15:9 which says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” It was a good reminder that God loves his son so much, and that the son, Jesus, loves us with the same passion and intensity.

Next, the youth pastors of two of the hosting churches came up to talk about “The Full Release.” The main idea was that we may say we love Jesus 100%, but most of the time we don’t live 100%. We may be singing for Him 100%, then go home and be 20% with our family, 30% with our friends, 10% at our workplace or school, etc. How would it be to live 100%?! Imagine that!

Personally, I think that’s where I’m headed, allowing Christ in me invade all areas of my life so that no matter who I meet or what I face, people might recognize that there’s that something different about me. They might get curious enough to ask and I’ll get the honor of telling them, it’s all Christ’s doing. I couldn’t be a tenth of a good/ loving/ faithful/ ___ person on my own. Hopefully they’ll get curious enough to meet Jesus themselves.

The testimony of David Fong was next. I thought it was good and genuine. And I hope that it touched someone to become curious enough to find out for themselves. That’s another thing too, that we don’t really know what our lives are saying/ have said to someone else about faith.

Third String Redemption closed with more good worship. I mean, the place was rockin’! TSR pumped up the crowd, the crowd pumped up TSR- it was wonderful!


Afterwards, I hung around and got caught up with a few people I hadn’t seen in a while. I saw a pastor and wife that had been considered for our own church; they’re now at Leeward and say things are going well. It’s not like me to go and talk to people like that, people who don’t really know me and I don’t really know them, but they were pleasant and thanked me for saying hi.

Then I was listening to two friends talk about their ministry goings-ons. One of them asked me if I was the only one from my church there that night. My thoughts: Haha, pretty much! But I guess that’s just how I am. I see value in “crossing church lines,” in seeing what else is going on, (in general) in meeting people who are different, etc., and am willing to seek it out on my own if I have to.



That night was just, I wanted to see some people in the worship team that I hadn’t seen in a while and refresh those connections a little; I wanted to have a release in this joy that I’ve been experiencing and do so with all-out worship with others; I wanted to see what was possible. I think it came at a good time. I’m energized to keep on with what I need to do no matter the cost and imagine something possible! I’m not thinking of having a group to put on a worship/ message night ourselves, it’s a possibility, if we have such gifts and talents and such, but my friends also mentioned other outreach things going on, so I’m just thinking about what’s possible if I/we would try and thinking about how to get there, how to do it.

Oh, I forgot about the video they showed! It was the story of Rick and Dick Hoyt. Rick is a “spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy.” He cannot walk or speak of his own accord, but can communicate assisted by an interactive computer. He wanted to participate in a 5-mile benefit run. His father, Dick, helped make that happen. This is what I love about their story: Dick didn’t just run the race for his son or dedicate the finish to his son; he took his son along! Find more of their story here .

In a way, it’s kinda the role I’d like to provide for others, spiritually speaking. I know what it’s like to not recognize that there’s something more, to feel absolute hopelessness while wanting there to be more; I’d like to help guide others past such times to be open to the possibilities when we start getting behind Jesus, and hopefully they’ll start being able to see the possibilities on their own. It’s not an exact analogy, but close.

The Hoyt story is, however, a pretty good analogy for what God does for us; we get in the carrier and God runs the race with us- we run the race on his power, and we have to want it, to want to run the race.

Ahh, so much to take in! And now, to see about doing something…!

Christ-Community: Come Unity [Ongoing Thesis Maybe]

This is my first pass at defining the Christ-Community as I’ve been searching for lately. I’m sure some brilliant person has already written a good book on this [and others not so brilliant have written not so good]. I have difficulties writing after reading how someone else said it quite perfectly already. So here’s my layman’s [or lame-woman’s] go at it.

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[From www.merriam-webster.com/ ]

Main Entry: com•mu•ni•ty
Pronunciation: \kə-ˈmyü-nə-tē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural com•mu•ni•ties
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English comunete, from Anglo-French communité, from Latincommunitat-, communitas, from communis
Date: 14th century
1 : a unified body of individuals: as a : STATE,COMMONWEALTH b : the people with common interests living in a particular area; broadly : the area itself c: an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location d : a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society e : a group linked by a common policy f : a body of persons or nations having a common history or common social, economic, and political interests g : a body of persons of common and especially professional interests scattered through a larger society
2 : society at large
3 a : joint ownership or participation b : common character : LIKENESS c : social activity : FELLOWSHIP d: a social state or condition
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That is a lot of definition. I think I’ll do this: I’ll say which ones may or may not apply. I’m definitely going to need a few entries to get through this Christ-Community “thesis.”

I would say that in my mind the community “is a unified body of individuals as an interacting population of various kinds of individuals with a common characteristic living together within a larger society, linked by a common policy, scattered throughout society.”

Well, at least that’s a start.

To add the “Christ” part of it, the unifier would be “a belief in the Triune God.” This is to distinguish the Christ-Community as being Christian. I know, people define “Christian” in different ways so I’m not sure that is a sufficient distinguishing attribute.

Off the top of my mind I would say that the common characteristic would be “brokenness” and that the common policy is “love.” Now, we can’t know why another person is broken but if we can constantly be aware that each person, we all, every one, is broken, that’s the next step. Then “love,” another sticky one to define. So that you at least know where I’m going with the “love” policy, I will simply cite 1 Corinthians 13 [look it up].

How am I doing so far? I know, I couldn’t sleep so I decided to lay some of this down since I keep mentioning it.

I think that’s good for Session Intro. The interesting part will probably be trying to tie together the idea of “living together” while being “scattered throughout society.” And again, the “love” section.

Any questions/comments?