When Community and Connectedness Mean Spirituality

It happened in the central business district of my home city. About as secular an environment as you could imagine. Hustle and bustle, traffic signals, tall structures, lots of noise, people everywhere, busy going their own ways.

Beep! (A long sounding of a van’s horn.)

My instant reaction was one of incredulity that this unknown driver had interrupted my peace; that he ‘stood’ there in his delivery van right on the corner; in the way of the turning traffic. Incredulity turned momentarily to indignation. Then my reaction changed again when I observed what was happening. I saw the taxi cab in front parked in the delivery van’s area — a loading zone. The cab driver responded and kindly crept forward, indicated out, and drove off down the road a little further before parking. The delivery driver inched forward and parked in his zone.

Getting out of his van, my eyes met his, and we had a moment of spiritual connection.

It was like a second’s meeting of the delivery drivers’ fraternity. One smile requited another. That moment, this stranger and I, a person of different cultural heritage to me, we connected. We found mutual encouragement in each other; through the identification of a frustration alleviated that both of us could relate with.

God encouraged me that moment. He said, “See how important like-minded others are?”

Our spirituality is interwoven in the lattice of community. The more the vine grows, the more connectedness felt, the more spiritual joy we embody.

Community is not always hours spent with people. Sometimes it’s given or received in a moment’s connection with an absolute stranger.

A truthful experience of spirituality is the best life can offer, because it’s how God meets us in our innate need.

Community breeds connectedness, connectedness enhances spirituality, spirituality takes us into God, and in that God brings meaning to life.