The Importance of Fellowship…
It’s hard to believe the image below was originally shared on our pages and discussed almost a decade ago. There was just something about the shift in messaging from the totalitarian left that sounded an internal alarm amid those who were focused on the open dismissal of liberty and freedom that resounded from the drumbeat of the Obama era:
“Fundamental change” was a looming catch phrase many just seemed to ignore. And here we are… divided by a network of seemingly intoxicating systems; many purposefully driven by the modern dynamic of social media, steering a tribal outcome we are only now just beginning to fathom. Ultimately what the collective weight of progressiveness is putting upon us is isolation. There are so many historic references to this strategic sentiment it is disconcerting to review with hindsight.
I am not a sage, but we saw this coming…. we just didn’t know the entry vector that would be used to accomplish the final stages of diminished freedom and individual liberty. As we look at the current COVID-19 mandates and dictates one cannot easily dismiss the weaponized use of a virus to attain division under the guise of “social distancing.”
When we initially asked the question: “where would you choose to live“, we had no idea a virus would be purposeful to enhance the objectives of social engineering, isolation and ultimately, painfully, oppression. Oblivious to the grand design, we allowed a seemingly disparate network of big tech companies to control communication. The COVID aspect now generates in the physical world exactly the same distance created in the digital world.
In/around July it was obvious in my travels we were on the precipice of a disconnect from human interaction that would numb our psyche to what ultimately matters, fellowship.
Not only are various governmental agencies forcing the separation of people from their community networks, we are also seeing faith-based organizations, churches, buying into the fear. Even in areas where churches are not forcibly shut down, many are seeing a structural shift where some faith leaders are willingly ostracizing their community under the guise of various COVID alarms. This is not good…. not good at all.
Fellowship is the essential ingredient to a purposeful life. How and why we interact with each-other is how and why we recharge our core humanity. To see faith leaders willing to separate from the function of fellowship is alarming. However, as individuals we must not allow this foreboding sense to become the normal expectation.
Throughout history large armies have been defeated through the process of division. It is not a leap to see the same strategic objectives being deployed against social assemblies including congregations. It is puzzling how leadership cannot see the danger in social and spiritual distance when the bond of fellowship is needed more than ever.
Each of us has a different connection to our community. Each of us has a different level of internal strength… such is the nature of living. However, the distance between people is manifestly not a good outcome when combined with the lack of food for the soul.
The influence of social media is already troublesome, physically distancing from human engagement only worsens the impact. There is no digital replacement for the true fellowship of humanity on a personal level.
Ultimately it is the currency of human connection that is the true value in our lives.
We have each felt how our positive influence upon the lives of others nourishes our own sense of purpose and fulfillment… Do not lose that. Do not think you can compensate for that through other arbitrary measures; you cannot.
With local, state and now federal leaders moving beyond the workplace distance; and beyond the community distance; and beyond the church distance; and now entering your home to tell you the importance of separating yourself from your family during a time of year when that very assembly is the core of your support network… you must evaluate these arbitrary decrees very deliberately.
Evaluate very closely what you are willing to give up. Perhaps we are in this position today because we didn’t sit still enough and contemplate the real priorities in our lives.
Our liberty is inherent.
Our freedom is inherent.
The removal of both requires consent.
I choose not to disconnect.
I choose purpose.
I choose my own humanity.
Love to all,
~ Sundance
[…] I asked a gentleman for the location to a convenience store to purchase some mints to chew throughout the day. I was directed to a specific store.
When I made my purchase, the mask on the other side of the counter was as sad as many that day, but I felt compelled to ask how she was doing. The typical “been better” was the return. However, as I started to walk away… I turned back: “what’s wrong”?
For the next few minutes I listened as I met a mom of four kids who was 15 days from a COVID-based eviction. There was really no-one to blame; and worse, for her no-where to turn. She was looking for housing grants to avoid the most painful decision in her short 30-year-life.
You see, there was a reason why I went into that store that afternoon, at least that’s what I told her; and there was a reason why she was there. In part with your support, and after putting all other tasks in the appropriately unimportant place they deserved, WE (yes, you and me) together found a solution and provided the resources she needed. Starfish dude strikes again… this time with His help and your help.
It would have been very easy to walk out and accept that simple: “been better”. Heck, I think of all the times I have done that before…. but not this time. This time something nagged about it…. and so I turned around and found tears, fellowship – and mints.
The next day another stroll, a little lost, and a veteran on the street… I can’t tell you his story because that’s for another day… but it is just as important and just as profound. As I walked away from him many minutes later he yelled at me: “HEY DUDE”. I turned my unmasked smile back in his direction only to have him say: “we need more people like you in charge”… Thumbs up, and I continued my travels.
Which is really the point of writing all this. Our nation needs more people like you, right now. Don’t wait… engage life, get optimistic however you need to do it. Then let that part of you shine right now… This is how we fight. Hold up that flag; give the starter smile… rally to the standard you create and spread fellowship again.
God knows we need it.
Post a Comment