When we plan to move house we often set out with a goal to find the largest property available within our limited budget. Yet, where our potential new home is located, perhaps matters more as we consider the distances we must travel to the places and people who are important to us. Many of us, living in this beautiful part of the world, have seen the setting of our dwellings in the landscape of dale or town a priority too. Yet when we have settled, what matters most to many, is actually the community we find ourselves living in.
The word community is used for different things these days, but what I would like us to pray for today are the communities of people we find ourselves living life with. The people we meet regularly, those we work with, relax alongside, share our passions and interests with and who live beside us in our streets and neighbourhoods. Our communities include our families, friends and neighbours, our work colleagues and those whose patterns of life match ours. The people we meet on our daily walk, the man in the shop, and the lady who drives the bus are all members of this community.
Our need for community varies as much as our personalities do, yet we all yearn to belong somewhere, and somehow. To be a part of something bigger, to be of consequence, to be seen, valued and appreciated are real things that matter much to us. A friendly smile, a nod of recognition, a few minutes of conversation, an invitation to join in, are all points of connection and yet can be things that we neglect as we try to fit life into the time we have. But yet we understand that community is part of the solution to the problem of loneliness, our own and that of others.
We know too, that it is not good for us to be alone. We know that social connection with others, also brings benefits to our health, both physical and mental. We know, that sometimes when our health fails it is so much harder to stay connected. What we can cope with diminishes, social interactions overwhelm rather than uplift, and our own world shrinks and life is less as we disconnect.
You see, we are complex creatures, wildly different from each other, yet sharing so much in common. Living in community is always a challenge, yet our need of it is embedded deep inside us. So will you pray with me now to the God who has made us this way, for our communities and for our places within them.
Father God, we pray to you because you are the God who hears us and who loves to answer our prayers. We thank you that you have placed us where we live now, and set around us communities to which we can belong. We thank you for our families, friends, neighbours, work-mates and all the other people who we connect with in some way. We thank you for shared passions, for mutual support, for genuine care and concern, and even for the little things, the smiles and waves that lift our days and help us to connect with each other.
Lord Jesus, we ask that you will bless our communities, touch our relationships, and inspire us to make greater efforts to be good neighbours, caring friends, and more generous with the time we are willing to give to make the places we live together better. We thank you for the groups, organisations and individuals who serve our communities. For those who invest time and resources to support our needs and to help those who are more vulnerable than us. Help us all to play our part in this to make our communities places where all people are able to thrive.
Sometimes, Lord, we find community very challenging. There are people who we don’t get on with, and those who don’t seem to see us. Please heal these relationships and give us the grace and patience to be on good terms with all people, as much as it is up to us. At times we feel distant, unseen, and alone, we struggle with finding opportunities to connect with others, or with finding others with whom we ‘click’. We ask that you will make opportunities for us to meet with people who are open to making new friends and who are willing to accept us as we are. Give us the courage we need to step back into community, and the determination to keep trying, and to keep loving and caring for those who you place in front of us.
We thank you, Father, that you are not a distant and far-off God. Thank you that your word reveals that your greatest desire is to live in community with us, that you have called us your children, and you want us to live so closely with you, and with everyone who has responded to your invitation to love and obey you. Thank you, Jesus, that your call is to community, and so we ask that you will bless our communities. Break down the barriers that we have built that divide us from each other and from you. Jesus, unite us with each other and make us one in you.
And so Father, we ask that you will bless everyone who considers themselves to be a part of this Dales Faith community. Bless everyone who reads this prayer, bless those who see your vision and long to be more connected. Bless all the communities in and around these northern Yorkshire dales who have you at their centre. Help us to encourage each other, to build each other up, and spur each other on, through the grace that you have poured out abundantly on every one of us.
We pray this all, in the precious name of Jesus, Amen.