The community of God’s people is vast and diverse—women in saris, children eating injera, men in turbans offering prayers in languages unknown to us. It includes different people groups and contexts, each distinctly unique and yet one in Christ.
Throughout the season of Advent, many churches characterize themselves as a community that is waiting. Waiting for God’s light. Waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Waiting for God to one day complete His saving work in the world. Many congregations conclude their Christmas Eve worship services by lighting candles from person to person until the entire church is bathed in beautiful candlelight. It’s a vision of God’s people—a community of God’s light in the world—bound together by the love of Jesus.
Jesus is still gathering people into His community today and invites us to partner with Him in the ministries of reconciliation and welcome. The Bible gives us an incredible vision of what it will look like when this work is finally complete:
“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” —Revelation 7:9
When you think of community, whom do you tend to overlook? Whom do you struggle to include? Pray this simple prayer: “Lord, shine your love and light on [fill in the blank], and make us one community in Christ Jesus.”
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