defining a redefined community

The essence of the community is not goal orientated, neither is it allegorical or topical, a community is above all story orientated. It is not goal orientated because a community is cannot be brought together for the sake of situational community; a community that is built on mere goals will be extinguished with the success or failure of said circumstance. It is not allegorical for it does not retell a particular story rather it becomes a continuation of a story in which the story they continue becomes not merely a story but it becomes their story. Community is not topical for it does not come together at the behest of current events, the community is an everlasting bond of friendship it is a fellowship of hope. Community is an existential participation in the story of Jesus which we must come to see is our story and the story of all those who come to the knowledge of the Gospel. The story I refer to here is not a story that has been lived by others in completion it is a story of continuation that is lived in others, it is a story that is always redefined and always lived out in the knowledge that it will be left unfinished by those in the community. I mean unfinished in the sense that the community is not a process, the work of God in Christ continues until such a time when the entire creation is restored, reformed and brought back to God. The community is defined by the constitution of its parts, however it is also much more than the mere sum of its parts. Community is defined and redefined over and over again in the life of the communities’ ability to imagine. The power of the communion of saints is the power to imagine a world unlike the one we currently inhabit. This ability to imagine a world without violence, suffering and survival of the fittest is the power of the community; this power allows the community to throw off the tacit consent of its members so that they may live in the world in a different way. This freedom is also the power of peaceful subversion. These are just some thoughts perhaps they will bolster a discussion.