Dear Theophilus:: September 2003

True Community

Sanctuary, by Eugene P. Kim
In a dry and barren land
You've called us to be
A people who stand apart
A sanctuary

You've called us into your light
To be one Body
Come fill us with truth and love
Oh Lord, set us free

Make us a sanctuary
Where grace and mercy flow
Make us a sanctuary
For lost and weary souls

Grant us true community
Where we can find a house of safety
Where there is nothing to hide

Make us a sanctuary
Where we can be made whole

Finding community was a big theme for my trip to Trinidad. This song really represents what Highrock Church strives for and what we try to bring to all people we encounter.

There were sixteen of us that didn’t know each other very well, but were part of this community in Boston. We piled on an airplane and landed in a completely different country, but encountered the same need – community. Everywhere we went, the cry for a safe place was loud and clear. People wanted a place where they could have a community – a safe, trusting, nothing to hide place. Through that community, we encountered God’s grace and love in such a real and tangible way.

Both through our team interactions and our ministries, we continually came upon the theme of community and body. Our skits and messages focused around being one body. One of our main ministries was a juvenile boys’ prison called Youth Training Center (YTC). When we went to visit the YTC, the theme of community and being one body was so apparent. The boys wanted to know that we were still the same – sinful human beings in need of God’s grace despite the fact that we were able to go free and they were locked behind bars.

I realized that I was the same as those boys – I wasn’t locked behind physical bars, but I was locked behind sin’s bars. Several years of hiding my secret sin and sinking into depression was my prison. Finally, confessing and revealing all this brought me to freedom. I didn’t experience this freedom just within myself, but through the community of my team as well as my church back in Boston. I also found this freedom through the boys of YTC. We connected because we both knew exactly where we stood and it was only by grace we were able to stand before our God.

Through my community, I realized that we are each an imperative part of the body. I realized that my community was safe and trustworthy. I realized that I had 16 people who loved me regardless and would be there to hear my confession, forgive, and encourage me to press on. I realized that it is this community that God gives us as a gift to experience His powerful and real grace and immeasurable love.

Lord, grant us true community where we can find a house of safety where there is nothing to hide. Amen.