Of Semi-thoughts on Community, and Other Thoughts on Others' Semi-thoughts

I know I haven't posted in a while. It's not because I have nothing to post, it's because I have nothing worthwhile to post — there's a subtle difference there. I have been mulling over some thoughts about community and its role in the church, but that's a very ambitious topic (possibly over-ambitious), especially for me, and when it comes to putting anything down on paper — so to speak — my mulling turns to circling. You can help me out though by commenting on this post. Let me know your thoughts on the following:

• What is your definition of the word "community"?
• How do you think that applies to the church?
• How do you think that applies to you as a member of the (universal or local) church?

I don't have fully formulated answers for the second two questions, but here is the best answer I have been able to come up with for the first one:

community: a group of people who both interact individually and act corporately because of and/or in service to a unifying identity, purpose or goal

Discuss.

I'll leave you with these fun items I encountered this week. First up, is a real-life example of a new business principle I had never heard of before: "Don't drive away customers, guilt them away." Earlier this week I got dinner at a local Chinese food chain. At the end of my meal, I cracked open my fortune cookie and found this bit of ancient wisdom in all caps:

WORK ON IMPROVING YOUR EXERCISE ROUTINE

True story.

Also true is this item found in the help section of the MusiChristian.com web site (it still exists as of this posting):


So I place a phone order by...sending an email? I must be missing something. (I will point out, however, that in every way that matters the company and their service is completely satisfactory — I have been shopping there for years. Though I have never tried to place a phone order.)