The Ideal Idol of "Community"

"Many people love the idea of the church as a community.  But when we eat together, we encounter not some theoretical community, but real people with all their problems and quirks.  The meal table is an opportunity to give up our proud ideals by which we judge others and accept in their place the real community created by the cross of Christ, with all its brokenness.  It's easy to love people in some abstract sense and preach the virtues of love.  But we're called to love the real individuals sitting around the table."

     -- Tim Chester, from his book A Meal with Jesus