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\u201cTwo are better than one, because they have a good return for their labour: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.\xa0 But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken\u201d (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

Perhaps it is fitting to begin talking of outward disciplines by looking at \u201cChristian community\u201d as our province begins opening up tomorrow.\xa0 Some of us will return to worshipping in the church building this Sunday. But not all of us.\xa0 Jesus has promised the Holy Spirit to us to indwell us and gather us together as one body in Christ, wherever we are.\xa0 Jesus taught that we are members of the family of God.\xa0 We are all connected through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.\xa0 We find our spiritual health by being in right relationship with every other part of the body because we belong to one another and to God.

God Himself is a community of three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit who all defer to one another, depend on one another and maintain continual relationship with one another.\xa0 So it is to be in our Christian community.\xa0 We are to encourage one another, pray for one another, care for each other\u2019s tangible needs, help carry each other\u2019s burdens and rejoice together.

When you become a believer, a first step is to find a community of faith\u2014a church.\xa0 Why?\xa0 So that you may be taught, and may grow in your Christian faith, and because it\u2019s important to be a part of a fellowship of believers.\xa0 Personal connection with other Christians is commanded, not simply encouraged in the Bible.\xa0 Relationships with other believers are one way to be encouraged to live out the faith that we proclaim.\xa0 Growth in faith is influenced in large part by having Christian examples around us.\xa0 The Great Commission in Matthew 28 tells us to \u201cmake disciples\u201d not simply to share the good news of Jesus.\xa0 That is also why in Hebrews 10:24 we are called to \u201cconsider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.\u201d

God\u2019s intention for us was never to do life alone.\xa0 That is why He created both man and woman in the Garden of Eden.\xa0 It is God\u2019s desire for us that we remain in community.\xa0 Being in community helps us to stay focused on God and where He is working and helps us to focus on loving one another more and less upon ourselves. \xa0

At our marriage ceremony my husband and I received a three stranded cord to symbolize our union to each other and to Christ.\xa0 This is not only a promise for marriage.\xa0 It is for all of us. \u201cFor just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others\u201d (Romans 12:4-5).\xa0 We all have a role, a purpose and a place of belonging within the body of Christ.\xa0 A crucial piece in this place of belonging is our connection to Jesus through His love.\xa0 Without it, our connection with others will be self-centered.

So is Christian community about physical community?\xa0 Yes.\xa0 But\u2014it is also about learning together, growing together, weeping together, rejoicing together, praying together and doing life together.\xa0 A lot of that togetherness has been online or through open windows or masked visits or church services where we weren\u2019t able to be in full community over the last 15 months, but it has been present.\xa0 I feel so blessed to be a part of a community at Immanuel CRC where we care for one another so deeply, are present for one another in such creative ways and are such an encouragement to one another.\xa0 I want to encourage you to \u201ccontinue in your faith, established and firm\u201d (Colossians 1:23) because a cord of three strands is not easily broken.