Fellowship

"We sit in our own cars, cook in our own kitchens, and hunker down in the bunkers of our own homes. Yet our isolation destroys us from the inside. We are made in the image of God as relational beings, and we cannot heal our lack of connectedness through increased profits, Prozac or psychotherapy. “It is not good for the man to be alone”, God himself said.

In accepting the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, Archbishop Desmond Tutu declared, “God created us for fellowship. God created us so that we should form the human family, existing together because we were made for each other. We are not made for an exclusive self-sufficiency but for interdependence, and we break that law of being at our peril.”

It is possible to become strong, vibrant men and women who live with a vigorous awareness of communal obligations. Living such a life will strengthen, not weaken, our businesses, neighborhoods, families, churches, and the environment. Our commitment will ring out into the world and resound throughout its four corners like the loud peal of a village bell.

Ultimately, an individual finds integrity, honor and usefulness only in relation to his or her community. A finger remains honored and useful only so long as it stays attached to the hand. When we separate ourselves from the body, from our community, we lose both our honor and our usefulness.

If technology shuts down, it might be the best thing that ever happened to us. It might even help us to avoid the disaster quite possibly looming in our future."

-The Gospel Reloaded Exploring Spirituality And Faith In The Matrix; Chris Seay and Greg Garrett; Piñon Press, Colorado Springs, CO; 2003