Easter and Community

Lamar and I had a very nice Easter, but it was definitely not what we are used to. We woke up and got ready for church, but to be honest, we were not exactly enthusiastic. I have pretty much always enjoyed church. I grew up in Sunday school with VBS (vacation Bible school), singing only Sunday night services, ice-cream socials and fellowships, and all around a super close community of believers. However, church here is different. We don't speak the language all that well, culture is different, and we are always going to be the foreigners. We really have grown to love our Pastor and his family; they are kind, giving, and fun people. Yet, we still feel very “outside” of our church and its goings on. I am reminded of when I lived in Dakar. My missionary family that was permanently assigned there rarely went to the church but conducted home worship and study instead, and I never really understood why until we moved here. The goal of local churches is to have people of every nation learn to love, serve, and worship Christ in a way that is honoring to them and their culture and in a way that they understand and take ownership in; the goal is not to make American churches everywhere you go. I feel the same way about our church here. It does not feel like home to us, but that is not its purpose. This has left us in a place without communal worship.


I never realized how important the body of Christ was until I settled in here and realized I would spend the next two years without one to which I felt connected. Lamar and I do Bible study with another volunteer, and we have our own personal prayer and study lives, but it is just not the same. I know church has its major drawbacks, and I am often the first to be annoyed by them: inane adherence to senseless tradition, hypocrisy, greed, etc. Yet Christ and His followers had it right when they realized the importance of meeting together, eating together, praying together…..living together for Christ.

As Lamar and I were reading over the Easter story, I was struck by poor Peter, Peter who loved Christ so dearly and yet denied Him three times before the rooster crowed. What I noticed is that Peter was alone, without the support of the other followers all three times. Without Christ and his other followers, Peter and his devotion to Christ were challenged, and each time, Peter failed. He still loved Christ, and he still had a heart for him; yet, Peter was alone and without the body of Christ to lift him up and support him.

Wherever you are today, if you have a body of Christ that you are sharing your life with, give thanks. It might not be perfect, but it is united by a perfect Savior. If you do not have a body of Christ to rely on and rejoice with, I pray you find one. We are not meant to be alone in our walk with Christ.