Koinonia

Every Wednesday night, Dishon facilitates an online Bible Study called Enjoying Christ, and it's one of the highlights of my week. We get to hang out virtually with friends and family in New York (city and state), New Hampshire, Maine, and New Jersey, and talk about our  Christian faith. Yesterday, we started studying the book of I John.

Verses 3-4 of chapter 1 state, "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write this to make our joy complete." The word for fellowship in Greek is koinonia.

I'm still recovering from the flu so today will be another brief post, but when I think about faith, family, and friendship (all of which play a major role in the novel), I feel like that's what we all most want . . . a deep sense of connection, trust, safety, acceptance. Some of those who misrepresent God make it seem like God's desire is to judge, punish, and abandon us. I don't believe that. I believe that the existence of the Trinity along with the sacrifice of Jesus shows God's true heart . . . inclusion, reconciliation, sanctuary, intimate connection, koinonia.

It's not easy to find true community with other people. When we find it, however . . . a place where we can be truly ourselves, honest, open, vulnerable, and hold the same space for others, there is true joy there. I know that space. I can write from that space.