Come-In Community!

A few weeks ago, we had a married couple over for the evening (hi Matt and Rachel!). After a lovely dinner, the husband departed for his evening class at CBC while the wife and us decided to do a bit of baking. In just under 2 hours, we had collectively made: 2 dozen carrot muffins, a big batch of chocolate chip cookies, a batch of double chocolate chip cookies, and white chocolate raspberry scones. At the end, we divided the loot in half and called it an evening.
This past Sunday, another couple (hi Dan and Amy) were telling us about their new mattress that they got from a thrift shop for their two year stint in Abbotsford as MCC Service workers. The problem was that the mattress smelt a bit stale and like cigarettes. So, we offered up one of the many bottles of Febreeze we had collected in order to help alleviate the problem.
A few months ago, we got a knock at our door. It was our upstairs neighbour (hi Emily and Zoe) asking if we had some obscure baking item that she could borrow. Of course we had that crazy item, and lent it to her.
Even today, we got a call from a couple asking if they could borrow some tools to fix their bike.

So the point of all these stories is to provide examples of community that we are in, intentionally or otherwise. We've thought a lot about community recently, how important it is and what it is that draws us together. One of our friends asked us how our church was. It was interesting to note, that we talked about the community within the church as one of the main reasons that keep us there. The service, music, doctrine weren't that important to us. In fact, without the community that we have found at Emmanuel, we probably wouldn't have chosen this church to remain at. We can find service, music and doctrine at other churches, but the sense of community that you build into is hard to replace.
One of the things we love about our friends, is their ability to make themselves at home in our house. They are comfortable enough to rifle through our cupboards to find themselves a drink, a snack or some item they wish to borrow. This is something that we feel is an essential part of our lives and our home. We try to maintain an open door policy, which extends to our cupboards and freezer as well! We love that we have a friend (hi Colin) who comes to our place to relax, to take a nap on our bed, and to unwind from a stressful life.
We have found ourselves entering into a deeper sense of community. Its one that shares its resources, time, experiences and abilities freely. Its a community of giving, rather than taking. Its comforting to know that when you have a need, you can rest assure, that you will find fulfillment within your community. And in our experience, we have found the most fulfilling and rewarding part to be the giving. We love watching our friends faces when they walk away with a bag full of cookies, that barely make it to the car, let alone to their homes. But we also love to see the unexpected gifts that meet a timely need in our own lives. We truly believe that this is the way that God intended it to be. When you look back through Acts, you see people living in a true sense of community, sharing all they had, just like we are attempting to do nowadays.