Community -- Definitions from Free Online Dictionary
1. a. A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government.
b. The district or locality in which such a group lives.
2. a. A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international
business community.
b. A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society: the gay community; the
community of color.
3. a. Similarity or identity: a community of interests.
b. Sharing, participation, and fellowship.
I was re-watching the Michael Wesch video "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube." In it, Wesch says that YouTube is really "a story about new forms of expression and new forms of community and new forms of identity." This got me thinking about how 'community' is changing -- not just within YouTube, but in the world today.
I found this definition of community on Free Online Dictionary. Feel free to look it up yourself, if you want to. The first definition (and usually the most common one) is:
1. a. A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government.
b. The district or locality in which such a group lives.
To be honest, this only applies to a very small group of people who are directly involved in my life. Sure, there are quite a few people who live in my town and even in my county, but there are so many more people who affect my life on a daily basis who live outside of that area.
The second definition is:
2. a. A group of people having common interests: the scientific community; the international
business community.
b. A group viewed as forming a distinct segment of society: the gay community; the
community of color.
Again, some of the people in my world would fit into this category. All the students and faculty and alumni at Luther are part of the Luther Community. And I do hang out with a bunch of Lutherans so that would be an over-arching community in my life. But it doesn't truly describe most of the people who love and care about my life.
Finally, the third definition is:
3. a. Similarity or identity: a community of interests.
b. Sharing, participation, and fellowship.
Again, 3a doesn't truly define my most significant community. So we turn to the very last definition which I think should be the new first definition. This is the new way we view community.
I am an online seminarian with classmates all over the United States. We have diffierent interests and different family and work situations, and we definitely do not live in the same district or locality. But with these classmates, the most important part of our community is our sharing, our participation with each other and our fellowship.
From Michael Wesch's video about YouTube, I am seeing that my classmates and I are not alone in this thought. There are random groups of people all over the internet who share, participate and have fellowship through this incredible medium.
So what does this mean for our churches when community is not even defined the way it was 10 or 15 years ago? It changes us. It changes what it means when we read the Bible. For example in the gospel lesson for July 11, the lawyer asks Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" Good question. Who is our neighbor? If our community can be worldwide at the touch of a button, who is our neighbor?
I love what I am learning about technology in this class, but it is sure making me think about things differently!
Sarah, I think you have hit the nail on the head! Who our neighbor is, is now much broader than ever conceived of in previous generations. This is due partially to families being spread out and how much more a transitory culture that we have (people rarely live in the same place their whole lives any more). But the internet and social networking have blown wide open community and what that may look like. I think for me, the answer to "who is my neighbor" is in some ways simple and in other ways complex. All in the world are my neighbor and I need to care what happens in Africa, China, Haiti, etc. This seems simple, yet the complexity of having to think about my next door neighbor in addition to my global neighbor is overwhelming. Yet, I firmly believe that we are called to live in this complexity and I also believe that it is part of living into and bringing about "the Kingdom of God" in the world. Thanks Sarah!
ReplyDeleteSarah, You raise a very interesting and important point here. Ironically, I just read the lectionary text for next weekend (as I'm preaching) and it deals with loving our neighbor. I think you have given me some fodder for the sermon. I guess the juices are starting to percolate already.
ReplyDeleteHey Sarah, I have thought of this issue many times in regards to our ecclesiology and I can honestly see churches in the future built around narrowed, common interests, but in a more organic and shifting manner than our current "buildings" provide. Like a person may visit the green church online for a year, then decide to start participating in the vegan church. The issue will be can we keep this "issue" driven churches centered on Christ.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Sarah! Community isn't defined geographically anymore. It is now this thing that binds a group together, an identifying thing that unites. This can be geography, but more often are things like, human community, Christian community, youth community, elderly, sick, impoverished, affluent, ... It can be a convicting thing thinking about all the ways we characterize communities today.
ReplyDeleteSarah, This media revolution puts a new face on the Reading the Audience class we just completed when it comes to defining community. Imagine trying to do an analysis for Web 2.0 in the same way we analyzed a single church in a single community! I just watched a man from Australia deliver an 8 minute sermon on YouTube. I wonder if he was aiming that message at me or if he even envisioned me as part of "his" community. The possibilities for proclaiming the gospel are endless!
ReplyDeleteAnd perhaps one of the largest challenges in all of this, is what happens when we define community as something that draws us together, but then differing interpretations of that something create conflict? So Christ is the center around which we orient our lives, but who controls what that means? Is there any way in which we, as individuals, might allow a community's interpretation (cf. confession) override our own individual feelings?
ReplyDeleteWhen we think about community as "fellowship" do we leave people out of our community? For instance, we have no choice in who our 'neighbor' is if they share the zip code 58210. Yet, they are our neighbor that we are called to care for- even if we *think* we have nothing in common.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am excited about all the ways for people to connect in new forms of "community" I worry about what that means for those who are on the fringes of society. The poor and marginalized... we cannot self-select our community.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI love the way in which you discuss community here, in addition to the engaging discussion happening here in the comments. Several of us have commented on the great sense of community we feel with our online DL colleagues. You know I couldn't agree with you more. In so many regards, I think that because of the way we are learning in seminary we are going to be prepared to lead our churches in ways that will be new and exciting because of the way in which we have been a part of this unique (or perhaps not so unique) learning community. Think of what the implications of our studying can mean for ways in which we can foster community via social media in our congregations, or the ways in which we could lead online Bible studies with parishioners.