The Fear of Our Calling to Community.

I sat down this evening with a plan.
Doritos and Water bottle (Yes, I know, so very healthy) strategically placed next to me, and crocheting in my lap, I snuggled into my comfy chair to watch Psych on Netflix.
And that is exactly what I did.
For three hours.
My roommates came home, exercised, and we chatted for a while, before I inevitably became lost again in the world of a made up character.

Eventually, they went to bed, and I was left alone again, with my favorite show, a finished scarf, and the taste of Doritos in my mouth.

I don't even really like Doritos.

As I was getting ready for bed in a silent apartment, I realized that I hadn't even bothered to ask my roommates how their days were. Sure, we had chatted for a little while about workouts, and how they got the huge broken TV out of the house for cleanup week (They are blessed to have strong brothers that will work for desserts), but I hadn't asked them anything consequential, and our conversation was distracted at best.
I was too engrossed in my program.
But why? Why would I want to shut the world out, shut my friends out, instead of engaging, and at least giving them my full attention for more than 5 minutes?

I think it is because I am afraid. Afraid to engage, afraid to open up, to be real with people, and to have community with others.
It is so much easier to simply shut myself off, block out the world around me, and laugh at fictional characters for hours.

Yet what am I called to do, as a Christian?

Hebrews 10:24-25 English Standard Version (ESV)
"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another;"

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:20

We are called, as Christians, to be in community with others. Communion, which we participate in during church with bread and wine, means to share in and exchange something.

We are called to exchange thoughts and engage with one another. Instead I sit on the sidelines, engaging in my own pointless entertainment.

What did I gain from those three hours watching Netflix? A few laughs, some insight into how to solve crimes perhaps?

What more would I have gained had I taken the time to engage in the community surrounding me, the people right in front of me, maybe asked them to elaborate on their day, their struggles, opened up about what I have been praying about lately?

Yes, it's difficult to be real with those around us.

To show who we really are, and engage after a long day of work or school.

It is much easier to simply fall into the rabbit hole of Netflix, Facebook, or the million other distractions which are at our fingertips.

Yet as I become less engaged, less willing to show who I truly am, and be real about the struggles I am facing, or the way the Lord is working in my life, the easier it is to become as two dimensional and surface level as the characters in my latest shows.

Those characters are an artist's rendering, only dim reflections of the real, complex people who I encounter every day.
The real people are the ones who I am called to love, and share with in community.

Hanna Elizabeth