Most Christians Struggle Alone (You Don’t Need To) | Trinity Talks Podcast

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode

of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla. I'm Jordana.

My name is Amaval. I'm Hugh. And we are here

to continue talking about spiritual practices,

to talk about things that help us as we follow

in the way of Jesus, to become more like Jesus,

some of the things that Jesus has asked us to

do as we, yeah, learn what it means to be part

of the kingdom of God. And today we're talking

about the spiritual practice of community and

community I think when we think about it, we

don't maybe necessarily immediately think, oh,

yeah, that's a spiritual practice. We think like,

oh, that's just like people. And yeah, sometimes

we think about people differently than we think

about like God. But yeah. So community as a spiritual

practice. What is it? What makes it a spiritual

practice? Yeah. Do you want to start us off,

Jordana? Sure. I think it's just really difficult

to maintain faith all alone. Sure. You know,

everything, you know, pretty much all the practices

we've talked about become easier when you are

doing it with others. And there's a shared purpose.

There's a sense of togetherness where they are

praying together, where they're doing a Bible

study together. And it brings you out of that

space where it's just God in you. Right. God

is doing something bigger in the world through

others as well and through you in with others.

And so. Yeah, I think spiritual practice allows

you to lean into that purpose in a way that doesn't

feel quite so isolated. Sure. Yeah. And gives

you the strength to do it. Yeah. Yeah. No, that

totally makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. How would you

build on that? I think it's in a spiritual sense,

it's a it's a gathering of Christians, because,

yeah, you can gather with friends and whatever,

but. you know, if you're not, you know, if they're

secular, if they're not Christian, I mean, it's

going to be a different dynamic. Sure. I mean,

one of the things that I noticed, especially

with being a new Christian is, you know, Christians

get each other, you know what I mean? Like, you

can talk, you can talk about a Christian subject

or Christian point of view. And yeah, you'll

get a response from your non -Christian friends

or so and family, but it's not going to be the

same type of response or understanding or reaction

that that you do with with Christians. Sure.

And I mean, and I think in a more serious context

as well, I mean, you know, community is is also

Christian community is also survival, you know,

especially when things are going to get when

things get tough, when you need help, you know,

it's best. It's better to have help from your.

fellow Christians, you know, you guys, we have

to stick together, especially you look at the

modern world and at least our society. And we're

very sort of like multi -religious, multi -faith

sort of like, you know, the whole community doesn't

show up on a Sunday, you know, like it may be

used to. Sure. So we got to sort of like find

each other and stick with each other. Sure. Yeah.

Yeah. And like finding those people helps you

to be able to like grow in your faith, to like

have those connection points and that sort of

thing. Yeah. Yeah. No, that makes sense for sure.

Yeah. What would you add to that, Hugh? Well,

just building on what you both said and Jordana

said about community, because we can't do the

Christian life alone. We need others. And from

the very beginning, you know, God said, it's

not good to be alone. Right. And Jesus said,

one, two or more gathered in my name, I am I'm

in your presence. Right. What makes it a spiritual

practice is the quality of of of the relationships

and community. OK, it's more than conversation.

It's even more than communication. It goes to

the level of what has been termed dialogue. And

in dialogue, you communicate heart to heart,

soul to soul. And that's what makes it a community.

And and I think, you know, with Jesus in your

midst, you're talking in dialogue. And really,

the essential part of community is the connection.

You know, we need to be connected. And we know

now from from from tons of research. that people

need to be connected. And if they're not connected,

it affects their health. Right. We know that

now. And we've known that for two thousand years

in Christianity. But now they're discovering

it in sociology and psychology and other disciplines.

So community is really a group of individuals

who commit to. coming together in dialogue at

the heart and at the soul level in the name of

Jesus. Yeah, that I think is really important.

That gives us a focus of what the community is

doing. It's not just hanging out in the same

space with people, but it's actually opening

up our lives, having meaningful conversations,

sharing a meal. doing things together. That's

right. Yeah. Just the spiritual notion of that

connection here that you're talking about, like

that shared spirit, you know, is so much a part

of how that connection happens and gets deeper.

Right. Yeah. There is something transcendent

there. Right. In the midst. It's not just us

doing it all on our own. And it creates a sense

of. hopefully care and love that grows out of

those connections that grow and model the life

of Christ, right? But the life of Christ among

many people, not just you and Jesus. And so,

yeah. So I'd say that that, you know, coming

together like that allows for that to happen.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I think the other

piece that's coming to mind for you in this moment,

as we're talking about. what that actually looks

like, is that like community has these different

layers, right? That I am in community in one

sense with the whole church, with everybody who

goes to Trinity, with all of the Christians worldwide,

like we are all in a kind of community together,

but I'm not going to have heart -to -heart dialogues

with all of those people and I'm not going to

be able to share a meal with all of those people,

right? Yeah, so maybe let's reflect on what are

these different layers of community and what

role do each of those things play, do you think?

So we have this intimate group of this heart

-to -heart dialogue that you talked about, Hugh.

So yeah, what does that kind of a... practice

of community look like? It's a level of, depending

on the size, that's very practical. It's the

level of vulnerability that's permitted, that's

allowed, that's encouraged. Certainly in a large

group that won't happen. The smaller groups,

it happens, you know. But it's very, it's got

to be very intentional because community doesn't

happen. Just happen. It's it's it's it's it's

something that has to be worked at It's a challenge,

you know, you really have to be intentional about

it in the emotional space and the spiritual space

even in the physical space because community

and the small group in the church is different

than the big church but in the small group sitting

in a circle is very powerful because the circle

is something that's very That's very historical

in a sense that the first people on earth were

sitting around in a circle and the fire in the

middle. And so we still sit in the circle. It's

a physical space and the fire in the middle is

Jesus. But the way the physical space is arranged

makes a big difference to freeing the emotional

and freeing the spiritual. Yeah. Yeah. And I

know Amalva, you've talked before about like

your experience with small groups and that sort

of thing has been really sort of formational.

So like, yeah, what does that sort of look like

for you? For me, and not just to plug it, but,

you know, like the the life groups, you know,

like especially and finding the right life group

is, you know, it can be a challenge, you know,

sometimes you be a former life group or you're

part of a life group and you just don't gel and

then other groups are you know, they're really

helpful and especially because one of the things

I notice is that it's like Sometimes if somebody

is stuck on a certain aspect or a certain part

of scripture, they're not understanding certain

things You know now you have you know eight nine

ten eleven other people who you can bounce ideas

off of or Get their perspective because you know

even in a crit in a Christian group and not everybody's

path to Christ has been the same. Sure. You know,

some of us are long some are long time devoted

Christians. Other people just got to Christianity

a year or two ago. Other people are coming from

different faiths to Christianity. You know, others

are, you know, have, you know, have fallen away

and are just coming back, you know, and and of

course, our life experience is all, you know.

So it's good because you get to see, you can

get to see more than one perspective of Christianity.

Right. Versus if you're just going to the church

and listening to the sermon, well, that's the

pastor's perspective and the teachings and everything

like that. But then you get to see it in other

aspects. when an alert in a in a small group

setting. Right. And you get to like ask your

questions that like, you know, when when Rob

is, you know, preaching from the from the front,

you know, we can't interrupt him and say, Rob,

that didn't make sense. Right. But you get that

space in a small group or whatever. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, just to get back to levels

as well. Right. Like one aspect is that sense

of coming together once a week, you know, to

actually discuss, to get a hand, you know, a

text to learn each other to get you begin to

invest in each other's lives. There can be other

ways like there are monastic communities where

people intentionally living together and there's

much more shared life happening in those spaces.

I grew up Catholic and so the parish system,

you know, where there is a church and everybody

in two kilometers belong to that parish, you

begin to just have a sense of a broader community

of friends who you learn to know over the years

in your community, right? And so that is more

geographically based, but you just are then not

necessarily meeting intentionally in a small

group, but you see each other at church and you

know about whoever it is, and you begin to slowly

know the people in your neighborhood in a way

that. You know, the church becomes that hub of

meeting and then you begin meeting outside as

well. And so it creates a space within a geographical

area where you begin to know your neighbors,

you begin to know your friends. You have these

friendships where you're invested in each other's

lives on an ongoing basis and it's more organic.

So, yeah, there are these different levels that

I think, you know, can can all generate ways

of sharing life. Yeah. Right. And so It's interesting

to think through what it is, how we can implement

that, and what exists for us here at those different

levels, because they all exist simultaneously.

Yeah, I think the other piece that sort of connects

to that is that thinking about community as a

spiritual practice doesn't always mean that we're

doing super specifically spiritual things together.

Everything is kind of spiritual because we are

spiritual beings and we bring God's spirit into

the things that we do. Sharing a meal together

or like even like I knew this guy one time He

was just like always busy doing lots of things

and so like when he wanted to spend time with

people He'd be like, hey like come and run errands

with me Go grocery shopping do these things but

like as we're doing that we're like Communicating

and we're talking and like sharing life in a

different way, right? So like yeah, just creating

those spaces for whatever that looks like. Yes.

Yeah. Community can be fun. Yeah. It's connection.

I mean, Jesus at the wedding, I think made sure

everybody had fun. Sure. kept the best wine to

the last. But community is really a place where

I think you referred to a Jordan a little earlier,

where that's life giving and that's where you

live your life. For me, community has meant everything

in my Christian life. I met Jesus in an intervarsity

community in university. In our early married

life, we were in a couples group and that helped

us tremendously in our marriage. And throughout

our Christian life, we've been in one group after

another, which has really helped. Now it's our

life group. And in this church, there's Alpha.

There's a variety of ways to communicate. But

the Christian life happens in community. And

if you don't have it, it's very difficult. We

have a friend who's trying to live the Christian

life alone, but it's a struggle. Sure. And we're

trying to pull them into some kind of community.

And because you just can't do it alone. Yeah,

there is also the basic fact that we are born

into community. Our families are the first communities.

Right. Right. You cannot survive without them.

And so there is that moment where, you know,

you just begin to think through that we're literally

created dependent on others. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, and I know, Jordana, you

had shared that at one point you were part of

an intentional community. So can you just explain,

first of all, what that is and then what your

experience was like? So years ago now, but it

was a group of people coming together to live

in the same neighborhood and sometimes in the

same house. It was more than just the people

in our house. We had about two couples and two

of us singles in a house that had actually, it

was quite large, it was six bedrooms. And so

we, you know, the couples took two each, we had

one each, and I was single at the time. And it

was about sharing life together. It was on the

one hand amazing because it just meant that you

always had support and your friends around you.

We all had part -time jobs to support. each other.

We cooked meals together. There was a sense of

rhythm in the day where you woke up and you prayed

together at seven in the morning. Then you went

to your work and had different things to do.

We committed to praying every afternoon, just

wherever we were at one o 'clock. And because

we were in different spaces, we didn't get together

for that. And then we would have evening prayer.

And you know, when I said that in community,

even things like prayer and Bible reading are

easier. that ended up being a structure in place

for us. We took turns cooking meals during the

week, so multiple gems during the week. You know,

one day was at mine and another day was others.

And so you just ended up sort of getting together

and living life in a way that was so much easier

and more stressful. You just end up. um needing

less when you're sharing resources you don't

have five people requiring five different i don't

know toasters right like there's one and among

all of us or the stuff like that where life gets

um Just more wholesome, I think. We also had

our own jobs, as I said. We had different schedules,

but there were and we made space for that. But

in terms of just sharing life, living more simply,

holding each other through, you know, prayer

and through Bible study. And it was an easier

life, I would say. And because we were multiple

people, and then there were others who shared

homes, not as big as ours, but sometimes two

or three would be in a three -bedroom apartment,

and they'd be joining us for events, for Bible

studies. We were able to also sort of just open

up our homes to neighbors, you know, to say,

come and have a meal with us. You're not trying

to do it alone. You've got each other's backs.

It was safer in a way. It was more generous.

So yeah, so intentional community definitely

allowed for a lot more of the things we think

of as practices to happen in a way where everyone

supported each other. That was my experience,

for the most part, yeah. Yeah, and it sounds

like it was something that was really beneficial

and life -giving to you, but then it was also

something that you were able to share with people

in your home and outside of your home. And outside,

yeah. Right? It was a blessing to the people

in the home, but also a blessing to the neighborhood.

Yes. Yeah. So that was actually quite a bit of

why, actually, everyone came together. It was,

you know, we want to be able to do this together

and we want to be able to also serve beyond that

and doing it and serving in a group is just so

much easier than trying to incorporate service

on your own. And so, yeah, it worked well. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I think that is like a

really beautiful model of community and like

so awesome that like you were able to spend that

time doing that. And I think if folks are able

to participate in something like that, that is.

incredible. And that's not the only way that

we practice community, right? Like, there'll

be some folks who hear that story and they're

like, that was great for you, Jordan. That's

right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and I said it was

a few years ago. There were challenges there,

too. Sure. Ultimately, I think, you know, even

there, some of the challenges of I think for

us, for me, it was like getting married and and

my husband's job took me away, you know, so,

you know, different ways in which. sustaining

that community or continuing and it became a

challenge. But yeah, for the time that I was

in there for the few years, it was a wonderful

space. Yeah, I've also heard of families doing

like kind of like intentional community, but

not living together, just being like, OK, every

Friday or every Sunday, we're going to like all

gather together and like maybe we'll all go to

the playground together and we'll all cook a

meal together. Right. And just like finding those

ways to cultivate community. in the rhythms that

like work in your life. Yeah. Yeah. What about

you folks? Any other sort of particular experiences

of community that you feel like were impactful

for you? I think just just living in sort of

a monastic tradition, but for for a time. OK,

like I've had that experience several times,

like 10 days at a time. Sure. And that was a

tremendous experience because it allows you to,

you're disconnected from the outside world. You're

not allowed cell phones or anything like that.

No TVs, maybe one or two books. And you go to

a formal mass or service every day. Mine happened

to be a Catholic community, a Jesuit community.

So we went to mass every day. We had a certain

time for prayer and a certain time for Bible

reading and an optional time to meet with a spiritual

director if you wanted to. So that was a kind

of a mini experience of the monastic kind of

community, which is fabulous because it connects

you to the world. It fills you with new life

and then you can. be ready to go back into the

world. Yeah, yeah for sure. Sorry, I'm just going

to jump in a mouthful if you wanted to say something.

No, no, no, you're good. I was just going to

say, like, you know, at Trinity there are so

many different forms of meeting beyond the life

groups, right, that people plug into and learn

about each other. Sometimes it's kids' church,

sometimes it's, you know, helping out together,

or sometimes it's a women's ministry where you

just bring in, like those are the ones that I'm

involved in. There are so many different forms

that allow people to... come in at different

places and connect in different ways. Right.

And so it's it's worth sort of exploring that.

For me, the small groups, as well as women's

ministry, have been places where I've been able

to find other women and other people who I could

be I could share my life with. Yeah. Yeah. That

makes sense. Yeah. So it's it's very powerful,

even in a secular setting in the last 16 years

of my career. I was the head of a fairly large

organization and we needed to really change the

culture in that organization. We needed to move

from a culture of fear to a culture of feeling

more accepted so that our creativity and our...

Our products would be better quality. Sure. So

what we did is we created what we call leadership

circles throughout the organizations. And there

was, I think, seven to nine people in the organizations.

There were two leaders. The leaders were trained

and they met for half a day every month. We started

with a time of silence and sometimes a time of

a piece of music, sometimes a piece of poetry

just to get the, you know, the right brain geared

in. Sure. And then we would we would discuss

what we would call what we call the check in.

What's happening in your work? What's happening

in your life? And then they would share that.

And then we would go into a didactic session

of what the teaching leading edge leadership.

theory or practice. And then we'd have a checkout.

What was it like for you today and so on and

so forth. And over the 10 years that we did this,

it was incredible what happened. Because, you

know, Jesus will be there, even if it's not overtly

there. He's in their midst. And people were saying,

you know, I feel so much more productive in the

organization. I don't feel the fear anymore.

I feel a sense of well -being. And they were

just, it was just amazing. So it changed the

culture of the organization from a lack of engagement

to an engagement level on the part of staff that

was higher than the Canadian average. And that

was because we had community. in the organization.

That's building community in the workplace. But

we did it in that fashion. So I think community,

whether it's secular, whether it's in a church,

works because when two or more are gathered together,

I'm in their midst. We sounds like community

is super beneficial. Sounds like community has

been really meaningful for us. I want us also

to be honest, community is not always easy. Right.

So like what are some of the challenges that

you guys have experienced as you think about

being part of a community? One of the things

that I find is that like, you know, even when

you're gathered with other Christians, it's like

you can be like, OK, you're Christian, but you're

a totally different Christian than me, you know.

And like, and I'm not even talking about like

different denominations or so, but just even

like different perspectives on things or, you

know, like, you could mention somebody's name

or something that that, you know, is in media

or whatever. And that says they're Christian

or whatever. And then You know, some people will

be like, oh, that guy's amazing. And other people

like, oh, they're horrible. You shouldn't listen

to them. You follow them. Yeah, there's controversial

people. There's things that you find out that

people in your Christian community are doing.

You know, like, I don't know if that's biblical.

I don't know if you should be doing that. Right.

You know, yeah. So it can kind of get like it

can get challenging because it's like you don't

want to step on anybody's toes. But you just

like at the same time, you're like. I'm not sure,

you know, are we all on the same page? Sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, lots of different

ideas. I know earlier when we were sort of talking

through this, one of the things that you said,

Jordana, that like continues to stand out to

me is you said that there's an element of our

family that's not fully chosen. That's right.

Right. They're like, in some ways we're opting

in, but we're like, OK, we're choosing to follow

Jesus. But I don't get to choose who is following

Jesus. That's right. Yeah. Right. And then there

is blessing and there is challenge in that, for

sure. What about some of the other challenges

that we sometimes face? Well, we're human and

we're all created differently and we rub each

other the wrong way. And those are challenges.

We have moods, you know, and that comes out in

any kind of community. That's why community is

really difficult in that sense. Very rewarding,

very healing. but very challenging as well. And

that's why we can't do it alone. That's why we

need crisis presence. Right, for sure. It's not

going to be a community that doesn't require

some amount of forgiveness. It's just a base

level of how to operate. It's going to break

up because... You know, it's one thing to just

agree to disagree on certain things or to wonder

about disagreements. It's one thing to just have

personalities that, as you said, you don't get

along very well. But there'll be times when people

actively sin or actively might hurt. And sometimes

it's intentional. Sometimes it may not even be

intentional. And so within all of that difference

and messiness. as you said, Christ has to be

there to be able to navigate, you know, everything

from just I don't like something to I've been

hurt. Right. Or I need to be forgiven as well.

And so there is all of that that plays out within

community. And there needs to be wise ways to

navigate and to put into place communication

and I don't know, just a range of Ways to deal

with all of it sure yeah, so when you think about

these challenges of like coming up against Tension

and frustration and hurt like yeah, what what

would you sort of offer to folks is okay? How

do we work through that? How do we come overcome

these challenges? I think step one is just like

being prepared to know that like this is going

to happen and that because I think sometimes

folks will get into a Community or a relationship

or whatever and they'll say oh, this is like

going so great And then they hit their first

thing their first fight, their first disagreement.

And they're like, ah, this is no longer worth

it. And they like check out at that point. Right.

But to say, no, that is actually a normal part

of what's happening to be in community with other

people. So yeah, I think step one is knowing

that that is going to happen and being ready

to sort of work through it. But then like, yeah,

how how do we work through that? In fact, that's

a measure of real community when that happens,

because it's going to happen. Right. And I think.

a community that remains strong has has to have

wise leadership that have been through this and

can take can journey with the group and take

them to the other side. Sure. And if because

I think communities stay or fall depending on

the leadership. Leadership has to be a very wise,

sensitive leader leadership. Yeah. I'd also make

it plural, right? Leaders, the bigger the community,

and I'm just thinking of Trinity, it's a big

enough church that is, you know, oh, Pastor Rob

cannot resolve every difference that comes up

alone. There needs to be the building up of other

good leaders. You talked about circles of leaders,

Hugh, you know, and I think that a church does

need to invest in that as well. And so, yeah.

That's why Moses needed leaders, you know, multiple

leaders delegate. Yeah. But so that's one aspect

of it. Right. But the other is also knowing that

even among all the differences, I think it's

hard. But to remember that Jesus is sort of the

central together, the one that holds together

and the one that asks you to forgive and the

one that doesn't ask you to throw your heart

away either to do it, do things to address it.

But but to also know that forgiveness can be

part of that of the process. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I think that there is there's a fine line to

walk between like being honest and acknowledging

real hurt and not like holding on to that hurt

such that it like prevents you from further community

and relationship. Right. Right. There is discernment

and spaces to forgiveness does not necessarily

mean always continuing with relationship with

the person who has hurt you necessarily. A large

enough community might allow those spaces to

happen. Sometimes in very small communities,

it may be difficult to find those spaces, and

that can be quite challenging. I think as well,

just being able to understand that if that group

doesn't give you joy, to walk away from it, but

walk away with Christ -like love. You still love

your brothers and sisters in Christ, but they're

just maybe not the right fit. There's going to

be other people that are going to be more of

a better fit for you. I've experienced that with

a life group. I was in a life group with a bunch

of other people for a while, and you know of

course there's like the honeymoon phase everything

is going well and then and then things started

to fall apart slowly and then uh to me and another

person we sort of we we left the group and sure

and we but we found another group that we really

connect with and and sometimes it can just be

as simple as hearing of other people's stories

and being like i can already relate to this and

i'm already just Getting there, you know, so

yeah, so just like knowing that we don't need

to be It goes back to those levels of community.

Yeah, right Like not we are all part of the Christian

family So in that sense we are in community with

all of the people who are trying to follow Jesus

together But that doesn't mean that all of those

people get to be or need to be or even can be

in our like core group Yeah, right. So it's that

discernment You know, you can still say hi and

hug people at the church but not have like an

intimate connection with them outside of that.

Yeah, that's OK. Mm hmm. I think the other piece

that I would sort of say as we move into like,

OK, so how do we develop community is that like

sometimes it starts with us. I need to be willing

to put myself out there. Yeah, to to. to develop

some sort of a community. And that doesn't mean

I need to put myself out there in like some grand

way. Yeah. But just like being like, OK, hey,

Jordana, do you want to go grab coffee sometime

or while we're at coffee hour at the church?

Just be like, oh, I'm going to go talk to this

person that I think I just like feel some sort

of connection to or whatever. Right. Yeah. And,

you know, there are so those are the personality

challenges of community. But sometimes it's just

practical. You know, we live very busy lives

and this culture, everything's further away.

I mean, when I talked about the parish model,

the thing that got me about that is how organically

community formed when you live very close by.

And if you're further away, it just becomes so

much more of an effort to get together, to plan

something, to drive 25 minutes away, instead

of like going over to the very next building,

you know, and just jumping into somebody's life,

like ring the bell and then there and say hello.

And that's a very different way of connecting

than having to consistently plan everything when

you have a moment or when you have some time.

And so those challenges can really play an outsized

role, I think, when we live in suburbia, when

we, you know what I mean, when we, when our communities

are. cities are structured the way they are.

And that can be a real challenge to building

communities, just how busy and how far away we

are from each other. Sure. But eventually you'll

see the necessity in making that time as well.

Yes. Because I mean, like one thing I've said

is that, you know, sometimes once a week on Sunday

is not enough. You know, like you can everything

can be going well and then something goes wrong.

And if it happens in the middle of the week,

you know. If you don't have anybody there to

talk to, you know, if you don't have a community

you can reach out to, you know, it can be, it

just makes it more difficult. For sure. Especially

for me, like I've, you know, I can count on one

hand the number of actual like legitimate Christians

in my family on both sides and none of them live

close. Right. So, you know, being at the, obviously

being at the church is amazing, but You know,

having my, you know, having my life group is

very beneficial for sure. And on top of that,

I mean, even if you're not in the same life group

or so, make friends so you can, you know, just

go have a birthday lunch or have a coffee or

go see a concert or whatever, you know, just

keep those Christian connections together because.

Again, in a world where not everybody is Christian,

we need each other more than ever. Yeah, I think

after going through the challenges of busyness,

I think for a community to work, I think there

has to be a certain vulnerability. You have to

open your life. you know, so the other person

is free to open theirs. And that happens in a

friendship and it happens also in community.

And if the vulnerability isn't there, if we're

not open, willing to open our lives, then it

does, community doesn't happen. And that's a

challenge for many reasons, you know. But that

that vulnerability has to be there after we find

the time to do it. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Well,

thank you so much, folks. Yeah, just that encouragement.

Start where you're at. Yes. Geographically, with

the people that you know, with the communities

that you can have and be willing to go deeper

to work through all of the hard things, because

together. we will form that community of Christ.

Yes. Yeah. And thank you for tuning into this

week's episode of Trinity Talks. I hope that

wherever you are, you can find your people and

you can dive deeper into those relationships

so that, yeah, together with all of these people

and with all of us in all of these levels of

community, we can grow into the people of Christ

and we'll see you again next week.