Joy in Community

The North American Porcupine is a member of the rodent family that has around 30,000 quills on its body. Each of these quills can be driven into an enemies’ body, inflicting tremendous pain. Sometimes the wounds can fester, occasionally even to the point of being fatal. The porcupine is not regarded as a loving animal. The latin name for porcupine means “the irritable back.” Porcupines seems to have two emotions when it comes to other animals, fear and anger. Books and movies celebrate almost any animal you can think, not just dogs and cats and horses, but even pigs (Arnold Ziffel, Babe), spiders (Charlotte’s Web), dolphins (Flipper), bears (Gentle Ben, Smoky the Bear) and killer whales (Free Willy). Skunks even get some love in the form of Pepe Le Pew. But I don’t know of any famous porcupines or of even one child who has one. As a general rule, porcupines are solitary and have one of two methods for handling relationships: withdrawal and attack. Porcupines don’t always want to be alone. In late autumn, a young porcupine's thoughts turn to love. But love turns out to be a risky business when you are a porcupine. Every porcupines’ dilemma is this: How do you get close without getting hurt? Turns out, porcupines aren’t the only ones who have that dilemma in relationships. This is our dilemma too. Every one of us carries around with us an arsenal of barbs and quills. Our barbs have names like anger, rejection, comparison, condemnation, resentment, arrogance, selfishness, envy, and contempt. We respond to those barbs exactly like the porcupine does, with either withdrawal or attack. Attack and withdrawal are practiced by every human being on earth, and every single time they damage a relationship, a marriage, a family, a workplace, or a church. The problem is that withdrawal and attack both violate the great command of Jesus to love. When I withdraw, I am unable to love, and when I attack, I am unwilling to love. Join us this weekend as we discuss the importance of community for anyone who would call themselves a Christian.