Community

“I am a Rock”

A winter’s day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I’ve built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship;

friendship causes pain.
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

Don’t talk of love,
Well I’ve heard the words before;
It’s sleeping in my memory.
I won’t disturb the slumber

of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.

The band in Almost Famous is a mixed picture of community. They live together, eat together, travel everywhere together, and keep each other “real and ordinary.” However, they never work through the conflicts and tensions that are simmering below the surface. Their singing together on the bus extends grace and creates harmony, but it also helps them avoid addressing the discord in their relationships.

Penny Lane turns William’s declaration of responsibility (“I have to go home”) into a powerful statement of inclusion (“You are home”). What young man has not dreamed of a beautiful woman laying her head on his shoulder and telling him that he belongs?

In “I am a Rock,” the singer escapes the pain of community by declaring that he does not need it. He hides behind books and puts up walls that no one can penetrate. He is, as St John of the Cross describes, a burning coal that has gone cold. Like many of us, he chooses the assumed safety of isolation over the risk of relationship.

Christians may long for the pleasure of a “circle of friends by the fire,” but often times their relationships aren’t nearly that intimate or satisfying. We can hide behind a Bible study guide just as easily as any other book. God calls us to risk sharing our “very lives” so that our relationships can deepen into a community that is “one in heart” and not just one in mind.

God calls us to community because He himself lives in community. He is a triune God: The Father, Son & Holy Spirit living in continual relationship each other. We need community in order to fully experience who God is and what God is like.

1. What kind of pleasure or pain have you experienced in Christian circles?
2. Does being a rock or an island appeal to you? If so, what is the draw? What do you use to build your walls of safety?
3. Describe your current community. How does it deal with its underlying conflict? How does it keep you “real and ordinary?”
4. How do solitude and community work together? Why are both important, and how do you know when they are in balance?
5. When and where have you felt most “at home,” like you truly belong?