I Believe...

PERSONAL GOD
Creed:
I believe God is involved in and cares about my daily life.

Key Verses:
Psalm 121:1-2 "I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."

Crowded Loneliness is something many people struggle with, but few people like to discuss. For many, admission of loneliness is some sort of admission to weakness and must be avoided at all costs. Holding this view or this opinion is detrimental to you and to your family. I recently heard someone say that they don't need more friends because they don't have time for the friends they have right now. The bottom line of a statement like that is not about the quantity of "friends," but the reality that most of those "friends" are nothing more than acquaintances. Our lives are filled with acquaintances - good and bad. The idea of adding more of these types of relationships is simply not desirable for most.

I agree. The issue at hand is about quality of relationships. In the 1960's, a man named Edward T. Hall coined the phrase proxemics, referring to the interrelated observations and theories of man's use of space. He was studying how the physical proximity of people affects belonging. In his study, people basically relate to others in four different spaces: Public, Social, Personal and Intimate.

Public Space - Public belonging is experienced when we connect through outside influences.
Social Space - Social belonging is experienced when we connect by sharing a "snap-shot” or hint of what it would be like to share personal space/belonging.
Personal Space - Personal belonging is experienced when we share private (not naked) information, experiences, or feelings.
Intimate Space - Intimate belonging is experienced when we share naked information, experiences, or feelings and we do not feel ashamed.

We connect with others in different spaces at different times. I would even argue that we need relationships in all four spaces to maintain a healthy relational component in our lives. The problem comes when all of our relationships fall into Public and Social spaces. These are acquaintances. Lack of personal belonging is fertile ground for Crowded Loneliness. (Also, note that intimate belonging is not the goal for every relationship - these are not stages toward relational enlightenment. Intimate space is reserved for spouses and maybe a few others over the course of a lifetime.) If you spent some time categorizing your relationships, where would the bulk of yours fall?

The good news is that God is involved in these spaces in your life. He cares about whether or not you belong publicly and socially. He wants you to know the security of personal belonging and the vulnerability of intimate belonging. Don't think for one second that you are left alone in a crowd. Maybe you need to hear God saying, "I'm here. I care." Maybe you've been using the man-excuse that connecting is for women, and you need to jump in and take a risk.

Our communities at The Springs are designed to help you with the quality of your relationships. Getting into a group is not the end goal of community life at our church. Finding your points of connection and living life fully in the midst of those connections is. We have strong beliefs about the most efficient ways to accomplish this, but make no mistake, our commitment is to you and your family. Want to see you join with others and experience the "more and better" life that Jesus is offering.