May they all be one

 

 

May they all be one

 

More and more people are becoming conscious that our God is not just a powerful Lord telling us to obey or be punished, but our God is family. Our God is three persons in love with each other; our God is communion. And this beautiful and loving God is calling us humans into this life of love. We are not alone; we are called together to drop barriers, to become vulnerable, to become one. The greatest thirst of God is that "they may be one, perfectly one, totally one." But we have to die to all the powers of egoism in ourselves in order to be reborn for this new and deeper unity where our uniqueness and personal gifts and creativity are not crushed but enlivened and enhanced.

  Community means caring; caring for people. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says; "He who loves community destroys community; he who loves the brethren builds community." A community is not an abstract ideal. We are not striving for perfect community. Community is not an ideal; it is people. It is you and I. In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we would want them to be. Community means giving them space, helping them to grow. It means also each other freedom; it is giving each other trust; it is confirming but also challenging each other. We give dignity to each other by the way we listen to each other, in a spirit of trust and of dying to oneself so that the other may live, grow, and give.

 

- Jean Vanier

 

 

 

공동체 누군가가 모두의 우편함에 위의 글을 복사해 넣어 두었다.
아마도 함께 위와 같은 '공동체'를 만들어 보자는 의미이겠지 싶다.

공동체란 '사람'이지 '공동체' 자체가 아니라는 것,
'어떤 사람이 되어 달라고'가 아닌
'그이의 약함과 선물로서의 그 사람 그 자체'라는 것,
서로에게 '공간'을 주고, 서로의 '성장'을 돕는 다는 것, '자유롭게' 만든다는 것,
공동체는 '신뢰'를 준다는 것,
그것이 서로를 '인정'하게도, 또한 서로에게 '도전'이 된다는 것,
서로에게 귀를 기울임으로 존경을 표하게 된다는 것,
신뢰 안에서, 자기를 버림으로,
타인을 살리기도, 자라게도, 주게도 할 수 있다는 것