The Real Nativity

In many churches, communities, fellowships or groups, starting with our own, we want to create an atmosphere of true fellowship; of people that always smile, always have the right word to say, and most of all of people giving the glory to God. We want to be an example for the people "outside" of our congregations, but what if we are the outsiders? We want to create a vision so we know where are we heading, we want to create a mission so we know how are we going to be working, we want to create discipleship classes so people can learn, we want to create programs so people can get involved. But what if true community is not about all these, "life in community does not keep the darkness away. Jealousy, anger, the feeling of being rejected or neglected, the sense of not truly belonging--all of these emerged in the context of a community striving for a life of forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing...Community is to keep moving towards the light precisely when the darkness--when our differences, when being document or undocumented, when we are good pastors or when we don't have any idea of what to do next, when we don't speak the language, when we feel out of place, when envy feelings come out, when judgment is proclaimed,when we don't want to be part of any church anymore--is so real" (Italics by Nouwen).....so it is ok to be imperfect!! The moment we realized our imperfection toward others, towards ourselves then we can truly relax and stand in awe before the creation of humanity and nature. This is when nativity becomes real, and real community sprouts out.