(no subject)

[guillermo_]

In light of recent downer livejournal entries... I thought I would like to make a positive contribution to our public forum... that or make a bitchy one disguised as a positive one.... We'll see where this goes. Ask yourself. Are you pissed because someone else is in a perfect relationship (they dont exist but lets pretend)? Are you pissed because someone else has a steady job and you dont? are you mad because because some else has been more successful than you? Are you feeling left out because you're not a part of something successful? Are you mad because someone else is more talented? Is someone smarter or more well versed in some important subject? Does someone never seem to do anything wrong? Are they nice to people all the time and never turn the music up too loud? Well, everyone including me gets jealous and hurt. We are an egocentric people. We care about ourselves and our self images and we can't look past our individualistic selves to see that we exist in a community. Vincent J. Donovan found it interesting in his book Christianity Rediscovered that the Masai with whom he was involved never seemed to show petty jealousy at a fellow tribes man's ability to speak or sing or pray or reason. THey would instead respond that they took great pride in the abilities of others and seem puzzled about why they would ever want to have those same abilities. They explained that the abilities of the other community members gave them great pride because they contributed to the collective ability and value of the community. They saw themselves as a community and so the abilities of others were also counted towards their own self-worth. One persons abilities were the communities abilities. And so they took great pride in their brothers and sisters instead of becoming involved in petty jealous quarrels with them. We individualists continually compete with eachother, jealous of eachother's relationships, personalities, abilities and status, we fight with eachother and tear eachother down. These things however all contribute to the value of the community of which we are members. For example Sarah and Jeffs wedding will make us stronger and more stable as a community, Mike's ability to sing and write is something that gives worth to all of us, Colleens involvement in bloomington's social services has gotten jobs for 3 of us and earned us a good name in that community... etc etc. In this way we contribute to our worth as a community of people. EAch of us in our relationships and gifts makes us stronger as a community and a church.
I also wanted to touch on the importance of caring for eachother. It does not matter that Mark knew about the dirtiness of the house and the constant band practice when he moved in... even though our (and my for that matter) first reaction is to say tough luck man you knew what you were getting yourself into, this reaction reflects a supremely individualistic attitude. We say his problems are the result of his actions and mine problems are also my own. He can deal with his the way I deal with mine. This is not a mindset that reflects care for others and care for the community of people. If we really loved our neighbor as ourselves we would want to solve the problem for the good of the community and not the good of ourselves. The health of this community/church should be more important to us than our own privelegde and ease. This means sacrificing for eachother and making decisions that reflect the corporate good instead of our individual benefits. Making decisions not out of ease and convenience but instead out of real concern for the good of brothers and sisters in Christ.

If I'm wrong tell me... LEAVE A COMMENT