We're number 5!

Buried within this article about Philadelphia being the 5th most miserable city in the U.S., are a few nuggets of wisdom:

"If you don't really commit to a place and say, 'This is it, this is home,' you're unlikely to be very happy anywhere."

But when it comes to the recipe for a happy city, there's one ingredient that is more important than any other, Weiner said.

And it's not the weather.

"Trust. It's a non-negotiable thing," Weiner said. "And trust is determined by the quality of local government and the quality of relationships people have with one another."

Scientists and economists tend to agree. Trust is not only essential for happiness, it's a fundamental requirement for a functioning economy.

"Trust makes us care about each other," said Paul J. Zak, director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University in California. "Trust is internally rewarding for the same reason eating or sex feels good. Your body is telling you this is an important activity."

Commitment, trust, and community are important things. Whoa. Mind-blowing.

...Christian community is a divine reality

More from "LifeTogether"...

"Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ, long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders but as thankful recipients....Even when sin and misunderstanding burden the communal life, is not the sinning brother still a brother, with whom I, too, stand under the Word of Christ? Will not his sin be a constant occasion for me to give thanks that both us of may live in the forgiving love of God in Jesus Christ? Thus the very hour of disillusionment with my brother...so thoroughly teaches me that neither of us can ever live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and Deed which really binds us together-the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. When the morning mists of dreams vanish, then dawns the bright day of Christian fellowship."

Christian community is not an ideal...

"Life Together" by Bonhoeffer is worth a read and probably a reread. Check out this excerpt:

"The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself."