"I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” JEREMIAH 31:25

     As a young boy, I grew up in the construct of a broken home and a highly dysfunctional family unit. Before I entered my teens, I was the last generation to be treated to the vintage movies of the "Cowboys and Red Indians" genre. At the time, I never fully understood "why" I was always drawn to allegiance with the red Indians. I could also never understand why they were always portrayed as "the villains". For me, they spoke of everything I desired, and everything I admired.

     There was a genuine brotherhood and family. There was no greed. They respected the land, and both fauna and flora. They lived in simple yet fully appropriate dwellings that didn't supersede their needs. They looked after both their young, and their old. They hunted for community, not just for self, and never for more than what they ever needed. There was no waste. Life was respected, as was death. They married once, and for life. They defended their own with their own life, and were happy to lay down their own life for another (JOHN 15:3). And importantly to me still, is they were warriors (ZEPHANIAH 3:17). They were brave. I used to dream as a boy of being integrated into their ways and their community. What I can see now is that what was behind the deep pull at my heart and soul towards them was "their community". I have this ache in my heart still for their community and their ways and their life.

     Later on in life, when I first began work, I met a Jewish man. And he became my first boss. He hired me. And once more I found myself drawn to the community that still is the strong Jewish solidarity through community. I observed their ways and their customs. I started going to synagogue. I loved their food. I saw parallels between the red Indians and the way Jewish families integrate as a community. The Jewish culture is one of brotherhood, and of looking after each other. Just like the Red Indian people, the men and woman of Israel are warriors. And they defend their land to their own death if necessary, and all for the gain of community. I was on the verge of converting to Judaism when my world was torn apart by personal crisis in the family unit I had grown to become so fond of.

     If you look at what has fallen on man since the Fall, man needs to work now in order to sustain his family. (GENESIS 3:17). But in that design is a potential blessing. God forces the establishment "of community" through the construct that is work. It forces man to rub shoulders with others, and strangers, and neighbours every day. It creates a platform for pursuing agape love, and for creating a community under the Fatherhood of the One who designed brotherhood and who defines love and community. Corporate life has largely fallen way short of the glory that should be what company life is today. Both individually and corporately, corporate life is, on the whole, intensely selfish. As an individual, people seek employment today for what they can get, not what they can give. Corporate's seek to employ only for what they, in turn, can get, and not for what they can give. They always manage down what they ultimately reluctantly give, always looking for ways to minimise what they have to ever give. There is no "neighbour" in corporate anymore.

     Having said that, some cultures today are more inclined to community than others. In that sense, they approximate God's second calling better than others. Many western civilisations are, in effect, more degenerate than others in that they have fallen well short of the glory that is the true love of community. They don't look after their young. And they neglect the elderly and widows. God created marriage so that man would get an intimate knowledge and appreciation for the value of community, and of the joy and fellowship that is pouring out your love tank for the benefit and gain of family and community.

     It's no coincidence that the two greatest commandments speak to the primary calling to COMMUNE with the Father and to the second calling to COMMUNITY with man. Both words have the same root. And this calling is typecast in the "model of life" and example of living that is the Cross. We first "fill our love tank" INTERNALLY through communion with the Father (through the Son and the Holy Spirit), represented by the vertical stem of the Cross. And then we "pour out our love tank" EXTERNALLY through community with man, represented by the horizontal beam of the Cross.

     If anyone ever wanted a better reason for why the Father of family insists "on church", it's because church insists "on community". It forces man beyond his insular and "me-myself-and-I" tendencies into a magnanimous family that crosses (the Cross at work again) all traditional boundaries, language barriers, economic distinctions and educational disparities. The Latin term communitatus from which the English word "community" comes, is comprised of three elements, "Com-" - a Latin prefix meaning with or together, "-Munis-" - ultimately Proto-Indo-European in origin, it has been suggested that it means "the changes or exchanges that link" and "-tatus" a Latin suffix suggesting diminutive, small, intimate or local. God insists on church because it encourages fellowship and community, and establishes the foundation for expressing and accomplishing the second cornerstone of love, which is to "love one's neighbour as oneself". (MATTHEW 22:37).

     When God says, “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.” (JEREMIAH 31:25), God does this in two ways: first through filling our love tank through relationship with Him as Father, from whom we get our identity and our belonging, and then through pouring out our love tank through community with man. And in this dynamic that is symbolised by the icon that is the Cross, and that is fulfilled by the LOVE TANK THAT IS "THE CROSS", we come to know and apprehend the deep love that is "the way, and the truth, and the life." (JOHN 14:6).

"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen." 1 TIMOTHY 1:17

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