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As I write this, my three-year-old son is playing cars with two older boys from the neighbourhood. Certainly they share a bond of cars and race tracks and excitement. Together they explore new possibilities. Together they come up with new activities and adventures. But are they community? Do they, in their own simple way, understand witness? It seems to me that with enthusiastic voices they speak of what they know. Regardless, bonding children, families and neighbourhoods is no small accomplishment.

 

And how about on a university campus? Beyond a world of playing cars - a world of economics, education and ecology - how do witnessing communities develop in this seemingly more complex, more adult environment?

 

I sometimes think that the stratospheric ideals should inherently gather us together: Beauty, Justice, Spirituality, Community. Almost the same as food, clothing and shelter, these four intrinsic values are common human longings. Would you agree? Have you felt the need for each and all of them to be included in your life?

 

Surprisingly they are of great necessity and perhaps even more surprisingly they are often neglected or ignored. It can be hard to have conversations with students about them, and yet it seems to be what they are desperately looking for in one way or another.

Other times I believe it begins simply, quietly, naturally. Much like Zechariah, I don't want to underestimate the day of small things (Zech. 4:10). Last year, a second-year student at University of Winnipeg helped with the residence program. This year he is invited to be on a team of R.A.s at the newly constructed student residence building. His supervisor says to him, “You know that small group bible study you were involved with on campus last semester? Why don't you do something like that with the students on your floor?”

 

Or another simple beginning: several fourth-year students help at orientation, answering questions and giving tours of the campus for first-year students. Getting tips on where to eat, good spots to study, and how to connect to different student groups, the new students find out about the Christian community on campus.

 

The community was not formed by us, yet we are a part of it. The witnessing – the being present and sharing our lives and our love of Jesus – we are a part of that as well. In the words of our Inter Varsity campus group: we want to be welcoming, inclusive and fun while showing the world or, at least to start - students living in residency, classmates, professors and one another, that God is authentic.

 

Somehow I'm drawn to the image presented by St. Patrick's prayer as to the true understanding of how witnessing communities begin:

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

 

Anyway, the children, who left our house to eat supper with their families, are back again, ringing our doorbell, wanting to play in our backyard. This glorious, life-filled wonderment of sharing community will carry on until bedtime. And as we sleep, it – like Jesus - will wait patiently for us to arise and join in again tomorrow.

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