Leaning

            I spent several summers of my childhood and early adulthood at camp. (Entire summers! Camping, counselling, chaplain-ing. Bliss.) At one camp, I noticed a precocious pre-teen dominating conversation. Her friend interjected with a mocking "Well! I'm done talking about me. YOU talk about me now!" I watched this child have a powerful learning: it wasn't all about her.

            Life is like that. It's not all about *me*. It's not what I want, what I feel entitled to, what I lay claim to. It's about *us*. In our home lives, our social lives, our work lives, our faith lives. It's humbling and empowering to recognise that life is not meant to be an idolisation of the one, but a celebration of the community.

            And in community, we lose the arrogance, the ego, the always-rightness of being alone. We collaborate, we deliberate, we share. We lean on one another in tough times, we support one another in times of strength. We weave together a mosaic of gifts, skills, interests, and ministries. We don't impose but invite; we don't dictate but discuss, we don't exclude but engage.

            Community is why Jesus sent his disciples out in pairs or more; for safety (of body, mind, and spirit!), and in doing so He was pre-emptively minimising the rise of the ME, the "I have all the answers", the "I need to fix you" mentality, the "my Jesus is better than your Jesus."

            Community encourages leaning. It supports faith that struggles; it bolsters emotions that collapse; it upholds its membership. Letting ourselves lean on one another is not a sign of weakness, but an acknowledgement of our trust in and need for each other. And we can all lean together, as we need to: we know how several sticks leaning against each other stand - and can support other entities as well.

            And, friends, let's be honest, this is a week when we're leaning. We're weary from the isolation and fear of COVID. We're concerned (at best) by the breaking of our economic system, and the insecurity that brings. We lament the egregious abuses of power that result in death and destruction, of people, families, and communities.

            It's heavy. It's powerful. And alone, it's overwhelming, isolating, crushing. So lean. Lean as you need to. Trust that together, we will be supported. Trust that you're NOT in this alone. Trust that even in your leaning, you are offering support.

            And in that support: grow. As you lean, use some strength to prepare for the 'what's next' as we are challenged to engage with community in ways we could not have imagined would be needed 3 months ago. Learn about racism, about politics, about privilege, about broken systems, about poverty, about discrimination, about all the injustice that is out there. Because these are global realities, and call for global solutions; and we are called to be part of the solution. Together, supported, strong, educated. And leaning - even as we stand tall, and justice will bloom.