I spent many years working in a public high school. By far, the biggest change I noticed in students as my career wound down was the erosion of the classroom community. Classrooms that used to be vibrant places filled with conversation and laughter turned into mausoleums. Students were on their phones most of the time, and rarely even acknowledged the students sitting next to them. AirPods and YouTube clips replaced the laughter and passion of relationships. People stopped looking up from their screens – a group of students sitting together were living in their own isolated worlds. Loneliness and anxiety began to set in – we are just now waking up to the damage. 

For generations, life in America centered around living in community. The fabric of American society consisted of a tapestry of communities that were all galvanized by some kind of common bond. At the founding of our nation, the most common bond was religion. As time went on other forces emerged that drew people together – gatherings that centered around ethnic and language groupings, social clubs, leisure activities (think bowling leagues) sports fandom, etc. Sociologists all agree that these types of communities are necessary for human flourishing. It turns out that we were created to live in relation to other people, and that those relationships help us navigate life and find meaning and purpose. They matter. As John Donne famously said, “No man is an island.” At the very beginning of the Bible, God makes Adam and observes, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” 

Well, guess what? We’re kind of losing that idea… and people are starting to get worried. I’m one of them. More and more people are becoming siloed off in their own digital world. Most relationships in that space are fractured, limited, and superficial. This dominant digital world is diminishing the strong social bonds we used to forge together in a community. We are missing embodied, meaningful relationships that can serve as a support system and a meaningful point of contact. The world can seem awfully cold, and it seems to be getting colder. The warmth of real and purposeful relationships is an antidote. 

Enter the church. One of the enduring metaphors the Bible uses to describe the purpose of the church is the metaphor of “the body.” Many parts, all connected, all serving a common purpose. Life in the body is intended to provide a meaningful context for each individual person that exists outside of their own desires. Of course, one can experience “church” in a digital context (this website serves as a testament to that), but church is not just a set of experiences. More than that, it is meant to be a purposeful community. When we gather on Sundays and other times during the week, we are affirming the dignity and worth of embodied relationships. We spend time, shoulder to shoulder, sharing, learning, and listening. We laugh and cry. We are sometimes disappointed, but never in despair.  

God created the church to help fulfill our created purpose. We were created first to relate to Him, and in the fullness of that relationship we can grow to love and serve each other. The Advent season is really the culmination of this beautiful truth. Jesus himself took on flesh to live an embodied existence among us. He walked and talked with ordinary humans, sharing in their joys and suffering. He established a community of followers and commanded them to love each other. Why has the church survived? Because everything Jesus established was meant to last- even into eternity.  

Of course, the church has its problems – it’s made up of human beings after all.  

But if you are looking for a place to belong that doesn’t require a special social status or set of skills, then we invite you to join us as we try to live out our created purpose together. I believe the great scourge of our current moment isn’t poverty or strife, it’s loneliness.  

I also believe God has something better for us.