<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">During S's bedtime prayer last night, Jason thanked God for, among other things, our community. After his "amen," Miss Always Full of Questions (especially at bedtime) asked "What is that one thing you said, community?"</span>

<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> Maybe it's the writer and word-lover in me, but this is one of my favorite things about parenting—being asked to explain or define things that seem so obvious and simple to adults, but are actually complex concepts we have to do some thinking about before we can articulate. It's like being asked what "empathy" means, or what a mortgage is. The answers don't just roll off the tongue.</span>

Community is one of those words that means more than one thing, depending on who you are and what kind of experiences you've had. Many people just think of it as a synonym for "town," as in "we live in the Urbana community," or as in "this looks like a nice community" as you're passing through a place on a trip. But Jason and I think the key factors are human beings, not buildings, so we told S that, in its most basic sense, community means the people around you.

The community Jason explained he was thanking God for, though, was our Community. These are the people who eat meals together, and help each other move, and take care of each other's kids, and who you celebrate birthday and holidays with.

"They're like our aunts and uncles and cousins, except they live near us and are a regular part of our lives," I explained to S. "People used to live right by their relatives, and always ate Sunday lunch together and pitched in to help each other. Now we have to make our own community, or we're on our own."  That certainly gave her something to mull over until sleep won.

As it turns out, in our early 20s Jason and I were each individually big on the idea of Community with a capital C. My friends and I were reading lots of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry#Ideas_in_Berry.27s_work">Wendell Berry,</a> growing vegetables together, and talking about things like Living Simply and buying property together.

Jason, after high school, moved into a community house with ties to his church in Chicago, where he learned how to cook for large groups. Later, after he and R got married and H was born, they shared a house in Virginia with Jubal and Renee. Meals and groceries were all shared, with each of them taking on different responsibilities each week (except for Jubal, who everyone deemed better at doing dishes and general maintenance than cooking).

Eventually, though, we all split off on our own, buying our own homes with our own money. It's the American way, after all, and it's easy to see why. Sharing money and space and property with one other person—your spouse—can be challenging enough. Keeping communications open and good feelings flowing takes a lot of work all on its own.

But where does that leave most Americans? Pretty alone when it comes time to move house or build a deck or get someone to watch the kids for the weekend...for free, that is. In many ways, a general lack of community today keeps the economy alive. It's just not the barn raising era, anymore.

At least community is one of the good old fashioned traditions that's still alive in most churches today (and one of the best reasons to go to church, if you ask me). Even though church goers don't all practice day-to-day community in the fullest ways, they still plan potlucks and picnics, and tend to come to the rescue for each other in emergencies or general times of need.

Every church I've ever gone to showers new mothers with delivered meals after the baby is born. Jason's dad has leukemia, and has really seen his church community come together around their family as people shuttle him between home and the hospital, and deliver dinners every evening.

I'm learning that this is what the first church in Acts was all about. Our small group has just started studying Acts, which isn't the dull history of the early church that I thought it was. As it turns out, it's more an example of a radical, counter-cultural group of people who were determined to demonstrate a new way of living together, in spite of the Caesars. It was all about generosity and taking care of each other and sharing everything they had (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%202:42-47">Acts 2:42-47</a>). Pretty exciting stuff.

A small taste of that kind of community was what stirred up the topic with little S in the first place. Last night, 15 or so adults and their gaggle of kids shared a meal at Jubal and Renee's new home. They provided all the wine and prepared all the food, offering it to everyone as a gift of thanks for helping them move their massive amounts of belongings a couple of weeks ago. There were people and loads of food everywhere. Everyone felt cared for and appreciated as we christened the new home with our conversation and laughter.