Lent - Community

I'm writing this ironically on a day where I am staying home from church.  We've been fighting a bug all week and my body gave in today and just said, "I need a little break."  So it's a blessing that my mom can take the kids and I can go back to bed for a bit and listen to a sermon at home.  There is one thing I am finding to be more difficult this year with Lent, and that is finding community.

I do not believe that Lent is something to be experienced in isolation.  Yes, it is about your personal relationship with God and growing in discipline and self-denial. But I think this can only happen in the context of community.  We need people to encourage and exhort us when the "flesh is weak but the spirit is willing."  There is also a dependency that comes when we open up to one another in vulnerability and support each other in prayer.  For me personally, this is the crux of Lent.  Community is such a vital part of following Jesus.

In past seasons we have engaged in weekly prayer meetings, meals and Bible studies through the season of Lent.  The one year where we saw an incredible move of God during Lent (maybe I'll write on that another day), we ended the time with a huge Easter feast!  It was a party.  We ate, we drank, we sang Karaoke, we glorified God.  That is what I would love to see more of in our Christian life.  This year, we have none of that structured into our schedule.  I have made a point of remaining accountable to a few friends, and reaching out to others for support, but I definitely feel the lack of that community.  It is a time of life (with young kids at home) that this is a challenge in general, but I guess I feel it more amplified through these weeks of Lent.  I love my community.  Lent has again awakened my desire and longing to see our lives intertwined with others in community again.

There's my thought for today :)  What's been your experience with community?  Where do you find connection with other people?  How has community caused you to grow?