This is a 12 part summer blog series on Authentic Community.  I hope you will read along and make some comments.  Two books that I would recommend are: Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Making Room for Life by Randy Frazee.

An Aspen grove is one of the largest living organisms.  They grow in large colonies which are interconnected by a massive root system.  Though individual trees only have a life-span of 40-150 years the root system is long-lived.  No individual part of an Aspen colony is alive for long apart from the larger colony. 

I believe Randy Frazee’s question, “What comes to your mind when you see the words, ‘making room for life’?”  is critical for us to contemplate.  In our hectic paced lives most of us do not have any margin built in to rest and think deeply about our life: Who am I becoming? Where am I going?  Why am I doing what I am doing?  Who am I growing deep with?  The reality is that we cannot even start to adequately answer the question unless we first understand what we mean by the term, “life”.  Randy puts it this way: “Simply put, many of us have squeezed living out of life.  We don’t have the time to soak in life and deep friendships.  We’re always running around trying to get to the next event.  This presents at least two major problems.  First, our busy lifestyles stimulate a toxic disease called crowded loneliness.  But there’s an even deeper problem.  In our original design we were created with a connection requirement.  If this requirement is not met, we will die.”  We should all on a regular basis evaluate the quality of our relationships.  Are we satisfied with the growth and depth of our relationships?  The toxic disease that Randy talks about called, “crowded loneliness” is at epidemic levels in our culture.  More and more of us have greater exposure to more people but fewer relationships that connect deeply.  Any wonder what has driven the whole social networking craze?  Unfortunately, social media has not helped people gain margin in their lives nor has it helped people connect deeply.  It has fostered and fueled exposure to more people but with less deep connection.  It is falsely making people think they are “connected” when in reality they are living an extremely superficial life.  Now, I am not completely against social media, but we need to be able to step back and evaluate its use in our lives. 

I heard someone say a long time ago, “As you read the Gospels it is clear that Jesus was never in a hurry.”  It strikes me as a radical concept that Jesus did “life” deeply with whoever was in front of Him.   This is something I have been trying hard to model.  To be as “present” as possible with whoever I am with.  And this means not pulling out my cell phone and looking at it every time it beeps.  How is it possible to be fully present with a person if at every beep of your phone you address it?  It is just rude, but it is normal for us today.  We all have this “connection requirement” that down deep inside we know we are not really living unless we are connecting deeply.  And it all begins with defining “life.”  Jesus defined it this way; “Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”  (John 17:3)  So, if we are not “making room” in our lives to grow deeper with Him we will not be able to grow deeper with others.  Awakening to authentic community requires that we make it a priority in life to connect deeply with our Lord and then with others.   Where to start?  Start by being radically honest with yourself in how you define life and how you evaluate the depth of your relationships.