Love and Community: Feelings, Thoughts, Dreams, Actions

Sometimes we think that love is a feeling or an idea, neither of which is entirely untrue. But while there is plenty to understand about love and plenty of emotion in it, in the end, love is an action. Therefore, to build what Jesus called the church, Martin Luther King, Jr. called “the Beloved Community,” and Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz called “the Kindom of God,” we will need to “love not with words or speech but with action and in truth” (1 John 3:18). That tends to have some very practical implications. As the brother of Jesus pointed out:

Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. - James 2: 15-17

In the classic exploration of Christian community, a German pastor who was killed by the Nazis wrote:

“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together

What are practical ways you can love people close to you this day? How about people like those James described? Are there ways your ideals around community have limited your actual community? Are there ways your thoughts or feelings about love have limited your lived experience of love? Talk with Jesus about what is surfacing for you today through these quotes and questions.