Sabbath Devotional :: Knowing Christ Through Our Web of Community
In C.S. Lewis’ book “The Four Loves” there is an essay entitled “Friendship.” The following passage is a reflection on the loss of a member of Lewis’ close circle of friends:
“In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets… In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious ‘nearness by resemblance’ to heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each of us has of God… The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall have.”
In his podcast entitled “Hope, Race, and Power,” Rev. Timothy Keller refers to this passage and then asks a question that I have been thinking about ever since I heard it a couple of years ago:
“Lewis is saying that it took a community to know an individual. How much more would this be true of Jesus Christ?”
I am fascinated with Keller’s extension of Lewis’ paragraph of friendship and his use of the word “community” in this context. A friendship could be between two people alone, but a community stretches beyond into a complex web of interactions with many different combinations. What is it about those interactions that helps us to know Christ better?
To find the answer, I returned to the scripture Amy Gold Douglas wrote about in last week’s devotional:
And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins (2 Nephi 25:26).
As we talk of Christ, we share something of our personal understanding that can have a deep effect on another human. As they share their testimony, we have access to the insights of those whose life experiences diverge from ours. We are supposed to talk (and write) about Christ whenever we can so that others can know Christ better, not because we know best, but because we need to add our testimony to a community of bearers. When Amy shared her testimony of Christ last week, He became more knowable to me through her eyes.
If we know Christ through the words of others, how much more so do we understand Him through their deeds?
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).
A few months ago, I found myself weeping at a wedding. I did not cry during the ceremony or the first dance or at any point when watching the bride and groom. Instead, I wept in the middle of the church kitchen, as I observed an apron-clad 70-year-old man pouring cup after cup of pancake batter on a griddle. Earlier in the day, he and his wife, along with four other saintly couples, had attended a funeral to show love to a grieving family. Then they went straight to another church building and oversaw an entire wedding reception, including dinner, for a couple in our stake. Standing in the middle of that kitchen I was overwhelmed by their unspoken testimonies of Christ. I knew Him better because I observed their acts of consecration.
I often experience the power of my association with a virtual community. Just this week, I felt the influence of MWEG member Jennifer Gonzalez when she wrote the following FB post:
“To those who are new to experiencing high levels of anxiety…. just keep breathing and stay connected to your body. Connection is the key, but your instinctual response will be disconnection. Disconnecting from others, from ourselves, from our emotions doesn’t decrease the fear and stress, it makes it harder for our brain to understand its limits of irrationality.
“We are in this together and we all have the power to choose connection in some way, even if it’s just over the interwebs. So, reach out to friends and acknowledge those feelings—hold space for each other to feel without being overwhelmed. And if you know someone who lives with chronic anxiety, let them teach you how to stay in balance when the stress hormones are raging.”
In the hours before I read Jennifer’s words, I had been feeling despair and a temptation to disconnect. I suspect I am not the only one who regularly defaults to detachment as a means of coping. Something as simple as a concern for Facebook friends and willingness to share wisdom can be a gift. In this case, it helped me recognize and name my distress and then breathe into it rather than pull away from my emotions and family. In other words, Jennifer helped me, a member of her community, to better know Christ through her perspective.
As we enter into a period that can reinforce disconnection, it is critical that we all find ways to extend ourselves to others. We become more complete, both in our understanding of ourselves and of Christ, when we know and love others. I find it particularly compelling in this moment to look at a community through this complex web of relationships and interactions. Social media and technology give us the opportunity to join and build those communities through which we can know and love so many more people than ever before. I want to use this gift to better know Christ through them.
Emma Petty Addams is the executive director for Mormon Women for Ethical Government.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash. Note: Something about the diversity of shape and color in this photo pulled me in and made me think about the power of community.
