Virtue: Community
Resolution: I choose to journey with other believers to participate in the mission of God.
Human Story: Julie Martinez
Julie Martinez has been a missionary for 24 years in Honduras, Chile, Zambia, and Cambodia. She has now returned to the states – where she serves with an international organization working with orphans. Julie has experienced both great joy and deep tragedy while serving others. This is Julie’s story:
The following is a poem that tells my faith journey in a very succinct form.
I’m Julie. I used to do drugs.
How I got there, why I left there is the story of my life.
But it is not the whole story.
I’m Julie. I was married, but now I am no longer married.
How I got there, why I left there, is also the story of my life.
But it is not the whole story.
I’m Julie. I am a missionary and a mom of two wonderful children.
How I got to those places is the story of my life too.
But it is not the whole story.
I’m Julie. I’m a sinner, saved by glorious grace.
That is the larger and more important story.
Only God, in His amazing love, knows the whole of it.
Life can be extremely challenging. Mine has been. I am not a stranger to hardship or difficult places, but neither am I a stranger to God’s great and marvelous grace nor His boundless love, which He has lavished upon me. I have been profoundly influenced by a number of verses. Romans 12:20 is one of them. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” This verse spoke to my heart and mind in a profound and powerful way when I was 17. As a result, I was completely delivered from drug use as a teen.
Isaiah 61:1 is another pivotal verse in my life. After learning some very hard truths about my husband and his destructive choices, watching him walk away from his family, I experienced firsthand the healing power of God and His ability to bind up the brokenhearted. I came to understand how He can and does fill the empty places of my life.
Eugene Peterson in The Message translates John 1:14 as “The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood.” It became a standard for me as I lived out a call to missions. The greatest impact I have ever had upon anyone is when I lived my life for and with others. I have lived in some very remote areas of the globe and in those places, I am known as Mom Julie. My point is I am known and known well. My flaws are known but so is my love for Jesus.
Our redemption is never for ourselves alone; it is always for the sake of others. God has led me literally all over the world. He has helped me navigate my life—including the unavoidable places of deep pain and hardship. His provision has been boundless, His love endless. He extended great grace in my life and allowed me to extend grace into the lives of others.
Lesson: John 1:14a (The Message)
The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
Jesus chose to give up His perfect community in heaven to move into our messy neighborhood on this earth. The NIV says that He “made his dwelling among us.” Why would Jesus come to earth and live as a human being? The most obvious reason is in order to become our Savior by dying for our sins and reconciling our relationship with the Father. But another reason He lived as a man was to show us how to live in community. John 17:32 records a prayer that Jesus prayed for all who would choose to believe in Him. He prays that all believers will be brought into complete unity. You can’t have unity unless you first have community. Do you have a place like Julie, where you “are known and known well?” It’s reminiscent of the theme song to Cheers:
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they're always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody knows your name.
Community doesn’t mean everyone has to be the same. Community is actually richer when there is a diversity of experiences, thoughts, ideas, gifts, and talents. A community is where each one uses his strengths to help others and seeks to encourage everyone else to do the same.
Acts 2:46 says “everyday [the believers] continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” So, not only did they worship together, they also ate meals together. In essence, they shared life together just like Jesus did when he was on this earth.
Remembrance
Love Song, Haskell Miller
The love we give each other
Is that which builds us up.
We live in one another;
We share a common cup.
Our loves are each a whisper
Of one sweet voice divine,
And when we sing together
The chorus is sublime.
Glory be to the Father,
To the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit.
As in the beginning,
So it is now
And so it evermore shall be.
Challenge
Julie’s human story says that she is known and known well. Are you in a community where folks know you well? What can you do to foster or even create such a community?
Reflection
There was a farmer who grew excellent quality wheat and every season he won the award for the best grown wheat in his county. One year a reporter from the local newspaper interviewed the farmer and learned that each spring the man shared his seed with his neighbors so that they too could plant it in their fields.
“How can you afford to share your best wheat seed with your neighbors when they are entering their crops in the competition with yours?" the reporter asked.
“Why that's very simple,” the farmer explained. "The wind picks up pollen from the developing wheat and carries it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior wheat, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of all the wheat, including mine. If I am to grow good wheat, I must help my neighbors grow good wheat."
The reporter realized how the farmer's explanation also applied to peoples' lives in the most fundamental way... Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.
Further Growth
2021: Book of Common Prayer Proper 29
Old Testament: Daniel 7:9-14
Psalm: Psalm 93
New Testament: Revelation 1:1-8
Gospel: John 18:33-37
2020: Book of Common Prayer Proper 28
Old Testament: Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18
Psalm: Psalm 90
New Testament: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10
Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30