Flow - Day 5: Community

One thing that I’ve gotten myself into these days is a sport called triathlon. Its actually 3 sports all rolled into one - swimming, biking, and running. And let me tell you something… it’s not easy. It can be downright frustrating. Especially if you don’t know what you are doing to begin with.

The hardest thing is honestly to keep going when you think you can’t. Because it’s an endurance sport. It’s exercising for long periods of time, which is super taxing on your muscles, lungs, heart. Especially in Florida, cuz you know, it’s really hot out there.

One of the things that I have found to be the most helpful things though is that I’ve found a bunch of other athletes to hang out with and workout with. People who swim together and ride together and run together. Who push each other to show up when we don’t want to. We have a couple of coaches who tell us what we are supposed to be doing, tell us we are doing great when we feel like we aren’t good at all, and generally allow us to ask questions and get better. It’s honestly made all of the difference, It’s made the whole thing fun, enjoyable, and it’s made me a much better athlete.

And know what I love most about camp? It’s honestly the same thing that I love about being a part of the church, and being part of a team. It’s that, no matter what, I know that I’m not alone. Camp is a place where we meet people who encourage us and tell us that we are doing great and that we can be better!

See, Our world today can be a pretty lonely place. We connect with people the most through social media, and honestly its just not the same. It’s a kind of cheap imitation of the real thing that we crave as human beings. I think that’s why we are all so captivated by our phones. They give us this sense of being involved, of being present with other people.

And what’s so great about camp is that this is the real thing. We are really together, we are really making ourselves a home in this place, we are really, truly, a community. And the reason that this place is so special is that the community that we build here is real, it’s tangible. We can reach out and touch it. We actually can’t escape it. In the good times and the bad times, we are together.

Unfortunately we don’t always have this kind of community, this kind of togetherness in our lives outside of camp. We go back to our lives where we are separated from others, isolated, kind of viewing the world through our screens again. Probably the most valuable lesson I learned in 2020 was that it is really really important for my own mental health to be around other people right?

And all of that is for a reason. God did not create us to be on our own. God created us to be a community. He created us to be together. When God saw that the first human was alone, do you know what he said?

He said “it is not good for the human to be alone!? And why is it not good for people to be alone? Because we were created for something much more. We were created for community.

You see, we are, at our very most basic function, created to reflect who God is. That means that everything about the character of God, (his love, his kindness, his mercy, his grace, etc) all of those things are things that we, as God’s creation are meant to also be. And one of the wonderful, mysterious, and often misunderstood realities of who God is is that God is 3 persons. One God, 3 persons. It’s weird. It’s something that we can’t really grasp the reality of.

Does anyone know who the 3 persons of God are?

Right. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so, without totally overcomplicating this this very complicated thing, what we need to understand is that this is good news for us. And it is good news for us, because it means that the very nature of God is that God is a community. God is 3 persons. It’s very strange you can be confused about this a bit, because I’m often confused about this. But what I want you to understand is this:

God is a community of love.

And if God is a community of love, and we are meant to be a reflection of who God is, then what does that tell you about us. What are we meant to be?

A community of love. See it’s not that complex.

So we are coming to an end of our time together, and it’s really sad. I’m going to miss you all. You’ve been super awesome, and I love the community that we have made together. But here’s the thing. This week of camp may come to an end, but the community that we have made here doesn’t have to. The community that we have made here, the ways that we have grown together and loved each other can continue to exist outside of camp, if we recognize the big truth about what it looks like when we truly follow Jesus. It looks like camp, but more importantly it looks like community.

And that’s, that’s our word for the day. And its our last word, because we saved the best for last. But it’s also our last word because it is deeply connected to each of the other words that we have studied. Community is how we recognize that we are called by Jesus, because it’s other people who tell us about him in the first place.

It’s community that helps us have the courage that we need, because a community en-courages us.

It’s community that helps us commit, because the community holds us accountable to do what we say we will do and be who we say that we are going to be.

And it’s community that rallies around us and holds us up when we are confused, and when we have doubts.

You see community, well community is everything. But not just any community. The Jesus community is different. It is bound together by a common thread, God’s love. Specifically for us, the Holy Spirit.

But I want to back up and kind of slow down a minute. I want to show you an example of what this looked like in Peter’s life. Do you remember what Peter was up to when Jesus first called him? I know that was like monday and it seems like forever ago. But what was he doing? He was fishing right!

So last night, we left off with Peter, and he had denied knowing Jesus 3 times. Which was too bad. Not a good look.

And then Jesus went to the cross and died, and what happened after Jesus died? Right he came back, he was resurrected. And Jesus stuck around, showing up all over the place, meeting up with the disciples and such. And so one of those times, we get this pretty interesting story.

The New Revised Standard Version Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

I love this scene, because it just shows us the humanity of the disciples. They don’t really know what to do, so they just do what they know best right, they go fishing. Just as they were when Jesus first called them. And who shows up, Jesus.

They’ve had a tough day, caught nothing. Just like they had the day that Jesus first called them. And Jesus told them to cast their net to the other side of the boat, just like he did that first day. And they catch a bunch of fish, just like they did that first day. You picking up on these parallels here?

Now I don’t know whats up with naked Peter, well I mean I know why we’ve got this detail, but I couldn’t tell you why he’s only wearing his birthday suit out there fishing. Maybe he was getting changed at this moment.

But check out what is happening here. Peter, he’s still living with shame right. He’s living with the guilt of having sinned against Jesus by denying him 3 times. And then… There’s the Lord. And he freaks and puts on clothes and like tries to hide in the water.

Do you remember anyone else from the Bible, that was naked and when they heard God was coming they hid?

Yeah Adam and Eve right? Because they were naked and ashamed of the sin that they had committed.

So yeah that’s interesting. We’ve got to pick that little idea up and store it in our head for a little.

What happens next, is that the disciples gather together, with Jesus in their midst, and have breakfast together as a community. And that’s a really special thing.

What is even more special is what happens next.

The New Revised Standard Version Jesus and Peter

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

And so here we have this man Peter, who was ashamed of his previous behavior of denying to even know Jesus 3 times, sitting with Jesus and being asked “do you love me.” 3 times Peter responds, yes Jesus I love you.

And 3 times Jesus gives Peter a job to do. To feed and care for his people. Do you know anything about how sheep travel and live? Do they live alone?

No, they survive as a flock, under the watchful eye of a shepherd right? What happens if one sheep goes astray? They might be eaten by the wolves. It’s the job of the shepherd to keep the sheep safe, to keep them together.

And so Peter restored, and he is given this task from Jesus… go and foster the well being of the community of my people.

And this is the same responsibility that we all have. We have this wonderful community at camp, but it is our job to go out into the world and bring this community to the world outside of camp. To show the world around us that we are better together. We are better together because we were made to be together.

Sin and darkness wants nothing more than to divide us, isolate us, and make us feel like we are alone. But we know that we are not alone, because God has called us and God is holding us. And so we need to be a part of a community so that when we are sitting in our fears we have other people around us to say “you are not alone. We are with you. God is with you.”

Peter and the disciples went on to start the greatest movement that ever occured in human history. And it started in little communities, that met in houses. They did life together. They helped each other out. They changed the world together.

And this is how we are called to change the world too. Together. As a community. Because we are better together, we are called to be together. God created us to be together.

So it’s my deepest most sincere hope that you won’t leave this community tomorrow, but that you will take this community with you. Take the spirit of love and friendship that you have formed here and let that spill over into your lives. Let that spirit of love and friendship start new and beautiful communities in your life back at home. Let that spirit of love and friendship remind you of communities that maybe you’ve grown distant from.

I pray that you will either get or stay connected to your church and to other teenagers as you continue to grow and figure out what it means to be a community of Love, just as God is a community of love. Because that’s what we are here for. That’s why we come to camp, and that’s why we can’t stay at camp. We have a mission to go and show the world that God loves them, and that we love them too. So let’s get some sleep, and then go and get to work.