Community: at the local footy, the takeaway shop - or wherever.

It happens all around us.

I saw it at the local footy match yesterday. It may be in the way the home crowd got vocal (or their car horns did - often both) when the local team notched up another major. It could be in the shouts of recognition between spectators as they met. It might even come from the three old biddies in the takeaway shop who were sitting behind me last night harping on about the 12 goals "our boys" managed in the last quarter.

So the takeaway shop then. These three ladies were having a terrific yak about the game when I walked in. Clearly two of them had seen the game and the third had missed it, because they were plying her with the highlights, including how their team have good prospects for the flag this year (and I think they do, too). Somewhere amongst their gathering and conversation, it was happening again.

It happens at my church, too. People get together and talk about their day, their week, their family ("Want to come over for lunch?"), their relatives, their farm ("We're coming into calving now. Things have been busy this month"), their holiday, their kids, their work, their school...

Community is happening all around me, but it doesn't just happen on its own. There are a few things which are necessary:

1. The common factor (COMMunity and COMMon have the same root word, after all). There has to be something what brings people together in the first place. A sports team, a school, a church, a fishing club, even people shopping together.
2. A shift in thinking from prioritising me and what I do (while others happen to be there: "I play hockey") to us and how, when we get together, we play hockey. Sounds simple, but it's likely far from it...
3. A deliberate decision to form community by delving below the comfortable surface. Belonging to any of the groups mentioned above, or attending such events, does not guarantee the formation of community. People waiting for the same train aren't necessarily contemplating community (although they could be). People have to decide to take their common incidence beyond mere location and into each other's life. Even then, inviting someone over for dinner doesn't make community. Once they leave and you close the door after them, do you feel your duty is over, or would you gladly offer your assistance when they call later that evening asking for help because the roof blew off their shed in the wind?

Community is so vital to all of us, whether or not we like to admit it. Perhaps, as a society, we need to find ways (and pursue them) to build the community in which we live - whether we're at the local footy, the takeaway shop - or wherever.