Something to ponder this morning

Kira Skala, a fellow EFM trainer and Priest posted this on her facebook page this morning and I realized how appropriate the passage is for me as my incoming class begins to build community.  Thanks Kira for sharing this. Praying this weeks Gospel reading (Matthew 18:15-20) : Dietrich Bonhoeffer says: "He who loves community destroys community; he who loves the brethren builds community." A community is not an abstract ideal. We are not striving for perfect community. Community is not an ideal; it is people. It is you and I. In community we are called to love people just as they are with their wounds and their gifts, not as we would want them to be. Community means giving them space, helping them to grow. It means also receiving from them so that we too can grow. It is giving each other freedom; it is giving each other trust; it is confirming but also challenging each other. We give dignity to each other by the way we listen to each other, in a spirit of trust and of dying to oneself so that the other may live, grow and give." -Jean Vanier From Brokeness to Community