The Carolinian

The Carolinian is the campus newspaper here at UNCG. A few weeks ago, I sent in a submission for the Life section of the paper, about Christian community. Every Tuesday (the day the new edition of the paper comes out) since, I've been checking the paper to see if my submission made it into the paper. And for three weeks, I've been disappointed every time. Today, I grabbed the paper, not expecting to see my article since it was so long ago that I submitted it. But low and behold! It was in there! I'm going to copy and paste the article for you below...

On Faith: Living in a Christian Community
Lindsay Widenhouse, Special to The Carolinian

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!" (Mark 2: 1-12)

What amazing friends! These friends worked tirelessly, arduously to carry their hurting friend to Jesus, and Jesus forgave this man's sins because He saw the faith of the man's friends. It was hotter than hot in Capernaum, so everyone was sweaty and smelly. There were bugs. The crowds were massive and the friends could have given up when they saw that it would be nearly impossible to get to Jesus. Instead, they managed to carry their paralyzed friend up to the roof, where they dug through a mud or thatched roof and lowered him into the house! Imagine if every time you were hurting, every time you felt broken, lonely, sad, or heartbroken, your friends would drop everything they were doing to help you feel better. They would comfort you, love on you, pray for you, cry with you. What an awesome community that would be.

UNCG InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, along with a few students from GTCC and Salem College, got the privilege to fellowship with one another and learn about God, evangelism and Christian community for an entire weekend in South Carolina.On Saturday evening our topic of discussion was Christian community. David Payne started off by sharing a little of his experience. He emphasized the difference between caring about someone and caring for someone.

InterVarsity Staff person Karen Gupton then continued the theme as she talked about her experiences with Christian community and read the above passage from the book of Mark.She said we find so often that we merely ask our friends about classes and stress levels, and go on about our own business. We don't feel as though we have the time to help them. We don't have the energy, the patience, whatever. But the blood of Jesus Christ, sacrificed for us on the cross, to atone for our sins, has bound us together in a community. Whether we choose to accept it or not, Karen told us, the community will continue to exist. We will continue to be one in the Body of Christ.

When we see brokenness, we must carry our friends to Jesus to be healed. And when we are broken, we must be willing to be carried as well. Both aspects are part of being a member of this community. To accomplish both of these things, we must be sensitive and receptive to the brokenness and hurting that exists, and we must not be ashamed or afraid to ask for help or support when we are the ones who are broken. When others are full of joy, we can and should rejoice with them. And when their hearts are broken and they weep, our tears ought to fall as we share in their sadness.

In his book How to Stay a Christian in College, J. Budziszewski writes, "Christian life is about being in love with God, and Christian social life is about letting that love break out into your relationships with other people? Christian fellowship is like a family in which we can bear the burdens of others and urge each other on? We can also hold each other accountable? and help each other confess [sins] to God and get back on our feet."

The Christian community that we are a part of should break out into our campus life as well. We should be excited to share Christ's love with others. Christian community is something to be celebrated and embraced, something that should be evident to others when they peer into our lives. It should be a place where we are comfortable and vulnerable, challenged to grow, loved, and supported, and where we are actively giving all of that back to other members as well.

After Karen's talk, we broke up into smaller groups, of maybe 15 to 20 students, divided by gender. And then we shared what we were struggling with - relationships with people, family issues, spiritual struggles. We prayed as a group for each person after they shared, but what amazed me was the way people reacted. People were not apathetic or displaying a small amount of sympathy. As someone shared, choking back tears, so did the others. The girls around the circle were crying for each other.

For the first time in my life, I felt I was part of a community that was truly acknowledging the bond Christ had placed on us when he died on the cross. People I barely knew, people I knew fairly well, and people I had just met that evening were crying with me. Their hearts broke because mine was broken. They were hurting because they saw me in pain. To be able to come to one another, vulnerable, hurting, sad, angry, ecstatic, frustrated, and to find a place of love, prayer, grace and support is what Christian community is about.




so...yeah...that's my very first appearance in The Carolinian. In our newspaper, there's a lot of articles about drugs, sex and other immoral type behavior. I really wanted something uplifting and something that spoke TRUTH into people's lives. I guess that's all for now.