A recent attack of colitis and diverticulitis extended my trip to China. As the doctor grounded me Mark travelled south to join me. We moved out of the city and went to stay with friends in a small village about forty kilometres outside Beijing. I wasn’t able to do much but we did manage to take several leisurely walks through the village.

The days were still hot and the sky bright blue as we wandered through narrow streets and down high-walled alleys. With nosiness we peeped through open gates to the grey and red courtyard houses where families and friends sat stripping corn cobs from their stalks. Every patch of land was cultivated. Squash and beans hung over our path. Courgettes crept onto the pavement and Morning Glory twined its tentacles around unsuspecting plants. Blood roses clung to walls while onions, soldier-like, stood neatly to attention.

We walked, avoiding the chicken and geese that roamed free, smiling as we passed the chef flipping pancakes on his outdoor hotplate and always saying hello to the villagers who eyed us with interest. The women chatting at their doors, the elderly gentlemen gathered beneath an ancient tree engrossed in checkers, cards or dancing to music in the cool of the evening, must have wondered what these foreigners were doing in their village.

Walking past the swamps we watched men cast their lines into the green water and were struck by the life of this village. It is a community. Everyone appeared to know each other and to be a part of one another’s lives. Our superficial observations remind us of the life of the church.

The church is a community of God’s people. Jesus called us to be the light of the world, a city set on a hill. Our lives are to be a light that penetrates the darkest night. Although I’ve heard some Christians say that they can live better lives apart from the church and its problematic members, I’m not sure that’s right. It seems to me that rubbing shoulders with those awkward Christians is a part of God’s strategy to help us live beyond our default mechanism of self-absorption.

Through repentance and faith God progressively takes the ‘me’ out of us and replaces it with an outward focus on Him and others. The gospel gives us the opportunity to relate to one another differently.

Through the gospel God creates the unique community of His body — the church. Rooted in Him and getting to know the members of His body we often find ourselves confronted with misunderstandings and conflicts. His light shines into our hearts and exposes our sin. But as we choose to place God and others before ourselves we find that we have a growing love and respect for this community.

God works through the community of the church and He changes us through that community too, so that our sacrificial commitment to acts of justice and mercy display His light to the world.

The Chinese villagers gather in the park — old, young, parents, grandparents and children. Beneath the cascading willows they sit, content with one another, living life at a more relaxed pace than Beijing. To our untrained eyes their lives are attractive and we find ourselves asking God to grant us the ability to live well in our community that we might attract others to the light of the world.