April: The community of St. Paul on the Alaskan island of St. Paul might have a problem. The problem, if it exists, is one that requires an entire community effort to solve. You see, St. Paul is a haven for a diversity of birds. The ecosystem on St. Paul is so rich and abundant that the island has sometimes been referred to as the “Galapagos of the North.” But, like any ecosystem, even a small change can have dramatic results–even changes that aren’t the direct result of anything anyone did on purpose. 

A resident who was outside of their home was pretty sure they saw the problem with their own two eyes: a rat. Rats don’t have abundant natural predators on the island. Consequently, if a couple of rats stow away on a cargo ship and find their way to the island, their population could explode rapidly. On other Alaskan islands, this has happened, and the rats killed the birds. Even the suspected sighting of one rat on the island of St. Paul would be cause for alarm. So, when a resident reported a possible sighting, the whole island sprung into action.

After the resident made the report of a possible rat sighting, wildlife officials showed up near the person’s home to investigate. They baited traps with peanut butter. They set up cameras. They even set up ultraviolet chew blocks which will allow investigators to spot chew marks on the blocks, and which (when consumed) will cause the rats to leave droppings that can be detected by black lights. One rat on the island isn’t just one person’s problem; it’s a problem for the whole island–for every person, and for the whole ecosystem. And, when there’s a problem, the only solution is for everyone to work together.

In the book of Esther, there was a problem. Haman, a man who hated Mordecai, wanted to punish Mordecai and Mordecai’s people. Mordecai was Esther’s cousin, though through a series of circumstances, Mordecai ended up raising Esther as his own. With Esther now the Queen, she was uniquely positioned to tell the king about Haman’s plan to punish Mordecai and all the Jewish people in the region. One person’s hatred–Haman–created a problem for an entire community, and even though Esther was ultimately the person who risked her life when she brought the news to the king, she never could have done it without Mordecai, the eunuchs who cared for her, and all of the people who were fasting and praying. 

Our lives are not meant to be lived all by ourselves. We were created to be part of a community, to be part of a family of people who care for us, who help us when we are down, and who we can lift up when they have needs. As I was writing this sermon, I came across a quote from Dr. Rosales Meza. She wrote, “We’re running out of emotional capacity because we’re trying to do things individually that were meant to be done collectively.” When I read this, I stopped in my tracks. We are people who were created by God to need community, to thrive in community, to need each other, but who are often pushed to do things without anyone else. Dr. Rosales Meza does not write from a Christian perspective, and yet she identifies clearly a place where the world’s deep hunger meets the gladness of the church, to paraphrase an idea from theologian Frederick Buechner.

This is how Buechner defines a calling from God: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” I believe each of us have a deep hunger for connection and community–a deep need to be part of something bigger than ourselves. I believe each of us does best when we aren’t forced to go it alone. In community, sometimes we are the strong one who helps ourselves and others. Sometimes we are weak or struggling, and others in the community lift us up. Sometimes we are the ones who do a lot, who can serve and give and be available. Other times, we are not able to do those things, and it is time for someone else to take the lead. The church is called to be the beloved community–the community of people called together to find life in Christ. In the beloved community, we find abundance because when we are together, we are capable of far much more than we are capable of alone. In the beloved community, we find abundance not because each of us tries to do everything on our own, but because we are rooted in Christ and because we help each other.

Jeff: Our passage from James speaks about community as well. James begins by talking about praying and singing songs of praise. While those may be individual acts, the text says, “If anyone among you” is experiencing these things. James begins from a place of community. Then he continues, “Are any among you sick?” There is that phrase again: among you. And he answers his question, “They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.” In the original Greek, it says that the sick should “call near” the elders and have the “pray near” to the sick person. Community is about drawing near to one another.

I feel like we have a severe absence of true community in our society right now. We’ve replaced real-life connection with this (hold up phone). Community, for many of us, has become a friends list or a Snapchat group or the people who like the same team, the same musician, the same politician as we do. The reality for many of us though is that we are lonely. Despite the myriad ways of connecting, we do not feel connected. Despite access to the activities of other people’s lives, we no longer really know one another. The community we long for seems like it’s within our grasp, yet we feel like we still can’t reach it. The real problem is that the illusion of community that technology provides leads us to believe we don’t need to invest in community elsewhere.

We stop at verse 13. We stop at praying and singing songs of praise, but ignore verse 14 and verse 16. We might ask for prayer in a post or a message to someone, but how often do we call someone to draw near to us to pray. Those of you here this morning recognize, in some way, that need to share in worship and prayer with others. But I bet most of us know people who think they can go it on their own or who have believed the illusion of virtual community. But I believe that God has something different in mind for all of us. Mark Branson and Juan Martinez wrote, “A group is not a community unless it shares hope, which means that they use the pronoun we in reference to an imagined future that they are working toward.” I believe that God, from the beginning of time, has desired a fuller life for us in true community. And I believe that James understands that and is offering an image of what that community looks like.

James says that if anyone among us is sick that they should call the elders to come near to them to pray. Many of us ask others to pray for us. But how many of us ask them to come near to us to pray near to us? Unless we are already with them, and even sometimes then, we rarely have people pray for us with us. James points to the importance of it though. And then in verse 16 he adds, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” Not only are we to pray for one another for the healing of sickness, but also for the forgiveness of sin. How many of us regularly confess our sins to others? Maybe we confess that we ate a whole bag of chocolates. Or we might confess that we haven’t been exercising as much as we should or we stayed up until 3AM binge watching all of the Harry Potter movies. But we don’t really confess those sins that lie deep within our hearts.

Why is that? Is it because we are ashamed? Yes. But could it also be that we haven’t learned to trust one another? Could it be that we are not in true community with one another so we don’t feel safe to share our deepest, darkest secrets? We’ve lost our connection to true community. And the only way to get it back is to truly invest in it. At the conference I attended in Portland this past week, they began the time by having a panel of pastors respond to some questions. And the moderator of the conversation asked the panelist about what the threads that unite their community are. One of the panelists talked about being part of a church that actively engages their neighborhood and works with the poor and needy every week. And this pastor talked about the challenges of that and the failures that happen all the time. And she told a story of going to talk with the other pastor who she viewed as always hopeful and always confident that they were building community, and she asked her, “How do you stay hopeful when there are so many challenges and so many failures?” And the other pastor responded, “The hope is there when you show up.”

How do we find true community in a world filled with illusions of community? We show up. How do we learn to trust others? We show up. How do we find the strength and confidence to lay our sins bare before one another? We show up. How do we find healing for ourselves and bring healing to others? We show up. We find true community with others when we show up…when we come near to one another. April quoted Dr. Meza earlier, who said, “We’re running out of emotional capacity because we’re trying to do things individually that were meant to be done collectively.” What if we did things differently? What if we stopped trying to do everything by ourselves and instead invested in a community? What if we invested in THIS community, not by doing more or being on more church committees or giving more money? What if we simply showed up for one another, showed up for our neighbors, showed up to support and love and care for our neighbors in need? What impact would that have on our lives? The hope is there when we show up. Amen!