Wooton Bassett - a true community

Did you watch the documentary about Wooton Bassett on Monday night? It was a really moving programme and I was in tears watching the family of a young man have to watch as his coffin was driven through the town. However, this isn't a discussion about the rights or wrongs of war - this is about community.

The documentary talked of Wooton Bassett being a true community. Members of the town said in this busy world, they still made time to stop, to remember together, to support each other. Friend and stranger was welcomed alike into the community. It was a community that drew others into itself. One man said that they could never look at the High Street in the same way again - that would forever be the place where the community gathered.

There was a lot of truth spoken. Communities should be places that share together. That laugh together. That cry together. That recognise the true priorities in life and stop when they need to in order to gather together. Church community should be the same. We should build a community that can share the good times and the bad times together. A community where people naturally will go, and where friend and stranger will be welcomed alike. We should be a community, just by our very presence and the way we are, draws people into it.

This followed on from the sermon I heard on Sunday. The reading was Jesus appearing to the disciples in the Upper Room. And the sermon focussed on the Upper Room. The place where the disciples gathered. A place forever of memories - good and bad. Doubt and faith. Heartache and elation. We so often argue that our church buildings aren't important - the church is the people. And of course that is correct. However, we do a disservice to our buildings if we see them purely as a space, devoid of any meaning, where we simply collect together. The place is important in building the community. My church has been there for 176 years. For some it is a place of celebration. For others a place of sorrow. For some, over the years, it has been both. Our buildings, while sometimes expensive, sometimes unpractical, are places of memories. And we need to be a community that openly shares the bad times as well as the good, because it is when we are truly community that we will draw others in. It is when we are comfortable with the place where we are, that we will be happy with inviting others in. And as people are drawn in, then the message of the love and grace of Jesus Christ, in good times and bad, will be apparent. And it is then that we will truly be community.