As we reflect on this lifestyle celebration, we invite you to explore some of our staff top picks from media and resources that deal with community. (Click on the images to learn more)

READ

CHRISTINE D. POHL explores four specific Christian practices — gratitude, promise-keeping, truth-telling, and hospitality — that can counteract the destructive forces that tend to pull people and churches apart. In Living into Community, Pohl aims to help churches and individuals build and sustain vibrant communities. Drawing on a wealth of experience and interacting with the biblical, historical, and moral traditions, Pohl thoughtfully discusses each practice, including its possible complications and deformations, and points to how these essential practices can be better cultivated within communities and families. Christine Pohl co-authored a book with one of our former Executive Directors and has been a friend of WMF for long time

 

MARVA J. DAWN is a theologian, musician, author and educator, teaching at seminaries and conferences all over the world. In Truly the Community, Dawn accomplishes what many writers, who have decried the lack of intimacy and community in our culture, could not do: she provide a fully biblical description of community and gives specific methods for its recovery. Through an intensive study of Romans 12, Dawn offers precisely this kind of practical guidance for building vital Christian community life. Originally published as The Hilarity of Community, this volume continues to be one of the best sources for understanding what it means to live together as the church of Christ.

 

LISTEN

AGES AND AGES is an American rock band from Portland, Oregon.  In 2014, they recorded Divisionary (Do the Right Thing) live in a living room surrounded by family and friends, other local artists, activists, a children’s choir, and a choir of adults with disabilities.

The tear-inducing video was shot in a single live take and captures the creation of music and art in the context of community. “In a lot of ways, I feel like this is the way our music is intended to be: inclusive, communal, and all together,” Ages And Ages front man Tim Perry said in an interview with NPR.

It’s a beautiful performance with a beautiful message:

Do the right thing, do the right thing
Do it all the time, do it all the time
Make yourself right, never mind them
Don’t you know you’re not the only one suffering

LOOK

ANDREI RUBLEV’s The Trinity, also known as The Hospitality of Abraham, is a Russian icon from the 15th century. It is Rublev’s most famous work and is regarded as one of the highest achievements of Russian art.

The Trinity depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (Genesis 18:1–8), but the painting is full of symbolism and is interpreted as an icon of the Holy Trinity. The painting illustrates the image of perichoresis, or “rotation,” a term which describes the co-indwelling and mutually-intersecting nature of the Triune God. Rublev’s icon expresses this intimacy and reciprocity, the perfect oneness yet distinct differentiation, among the Persons of the Godhead, which model for us perfect fellowship and community.