And yet, the evening works wonderfully. Anyway, back to my story. Danny was finishing up the prayer before beginning to play, when he said something that fascinated me. He said "Thank you Lord for providing for us this wonderful living room."
That started me thinking. Why does this Monday Night feel so good? Why is it that this setting seems to be the perfect condition for God's work?
Well, Danny was right. This place was like a living room. We had food, comfort, socialization and, well, Life! I started to think of my own living room and the experiences that I have had in it. Times of joy and peace amongst friends, bonding with relatives, and times of great learning from wise men.
The three C's or the three components of a living room seem to be as follows: Community, Compassion, and Character. The living room is by nature a place of gathering. It is often a place where food is enjoyed or where some basic attraction is featured yet not focused upon (i.e fire, music etc..) In this sense, the living room draws people together in a physical and emotional way. People congregate and socialize in a face to face situation, which fosters real and genuine community.
The second thing that a living room will foster and facilitate amongst people who have come together in genuine community, is a real sense of compassion between them. People often call me to talk about their lives, and one of the main reasons that I insist we meet in person to talk is because of this truth. People (including me) empathize better and are generally more compassionate with others when they meet them face to face. Therefore compassion is fostered when community cultivated. The living room is the place where this critical phenomenon begins.
Thirdly, once people are in a position of compassion toward their fellow man, another factor then comes into play: character. Men and women are forced to deal with the experience of genuine community and the compassion that follows. We now realize that the people around us may need our help, what will we do? That is the question that is inevitable when dealing honestly with others. They need my help, what can I do? What will I do? How we answer that question is what develops our character.
There is a fourth component, and I have found it to be the most critical of all of them. In fact, without this fourth C none of the other three will work properly. The critical ingredient for a Living room is Christ.
Without Christ, community is nothing but a gathering of lost and injured people coming together to share their pain and to enter into a state of collective denial about its existence.
Without Christ, compassion is nothing but a reminder of how hopeless and painful life really is.
Without Christ, true character will not be developed because no man is righteous in his own power. Christ is the righteousness that man needs in order to become anything other than masked selfishness.
Yet with Christ, Community is people coming together to share in the joy of a life that has been saved and sanctified unto eternal glory and purpose.
With Christ, compassion is nothing less than a divine prompting to strengthen your fellow man with the promises of a mighty God, to cover him with the healing power of prayer, and to remind him of the blood of Jesus and the depth His Grace.
With Christ, true righteousness is developed due to the man's understanding that he does the right thing due to his acceptance from God, and not for acceptance from God.
Only with Christ do we have a truly Living room.
All the other ones are just dead.
