MYAF 2013 retreat

What I read on Bonhoffer came up again in a session we had during a retreat
“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone..."
http://www.transformingcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/Solitude-Community-and-Leadership-eReflections-2.pdf

Exploring what Christ-centred fellowship led us to introduction to Lectio Divina, a method used to meditate on scripture (for solitude) , though evidently not helpful for those who fell asleep, drifted in and out. Solitude is said to be a lost "art" and hearing what God wants to say is not something easy to do.

We played this simple game of hitting a ball up in the air as long as possible as a group. It was actually difficult to hit it for 20 times as the wind was persistently blowing the ball in a certain direction during the play time. It is quite interesting to see how it is similar to the fellowship. When the ball falls, do you take the initiative to move towards the ball ? Or do you ignore it, thinking that someone else will hit it so I don't have to move at all ? One could simply have hit the ball 20 times by himself (or at least I think so), so why do it as a group? Why do it in a group when the outcomes from a group is less ideal ? I guess it it more than a "challenge accepted" thing but rather that we can potentially derive more satisfaction (or happiness) out of a task (or perhaps, striving for a common goal) when there is more than one. I used the word potentially because the happiness or satisfaction that comes when doing things together is not absolute. In the working process, we seem to get more frequently frustrated at one another (or a certain someone) as compared to getting more frequent burst of laughter. It's part and parcel of working together - doing your part (when the time comes, as you see fit), bearing with one another, learning how to relate to people who are different from you...etc. (related to 1 John 4:19-21)

When it came to the sharing session, I thought about how it seems we are settling with less. In a "connected yet alone", we expect more from technology and less from one another. We don't intuitively realised that this phenomenon occurred because we think/feel that relationships are hard to manage. When we compare to the Puritans who are committed to God and fellowship, we seem to pale in comparison and end up settling with less or the status quo. That brought me to reflect of how much I am committed to God and one another in the fellowship. How far am I willing to go to see to it that the fellowship improve? Am I willing to go to the extend of laying down your lives for your brothers and sisters in Christ?

__________________________________________________________________

16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. (1 John 4:19-21)