Have you guys heard of the “BeReal” app? It’s a photo-sharing app that encourages people to share an authentic, unfiltered snapshot of their lives once a day. Every day, all the users of this app receive a simultaneous notification that it’s time to “BeReal.” Then you are supposed to take a picture of yourself and your surroundings wherever you happen to be at that moment. The timing is different every day, so hopefully the pictures will be different every day. My wife, Ashley, and I have it set up so that the other members of our immediate family are the only ones who can see our BeReal – for us, it’s a way to stay connected and see what we’re all up to.  

The temptation with “BeReal” is not to be real. If I’m lying around the house watching football, that’s not too exciting, and I am tempted to wait until I’m doing something more productive or more fun to take my picture. But “Real” is in the name of the app, so it doesn’t really work if done that way. The idea is to be able to show the world (or in this case, my people) our real, authentic selves and to be okay with that. 

Isn’t that what Christian community is all about? The willingness to be real with a group of people, to walk with one another through life in the good moments and the bad moments, through the ups and the downs? Paul reminds us that we are to “Bear one another’s burdens.”  Being able to be real with our brothers and sisters in Christ, to be vulnerable and show our true selves, even when we are in bad shape, is so important to the life of discipleship. Our Community Groups here at Christ Church are finishing up the fall semester, but if you have not landed in one yet, will you take the next couple of months to pray about taking that next step? We’ll kick off the next semester of groups mid-January, and I cannot tell you enough what they mean to me and so many others who are in groups. What would it look like if every person at Christ Church was part of a Community Group? Let’s seek to BeReal with one another!