The value of shared experience

Last February I attended a national Christian women's conference in San Antonio. A couple dozen of us went together. We shared rides from Austin to SA; we shared hotel rooms; we had meals together; we sat together at the conference and heard the same speakers. When we returned to our home church, we enjoyed telling others about the conference.

Interestingly, when we returned I noticed that when I saw anyone who had been on the trip, I felt a special kinship to them. I felt noticeably closer to those with whom I'd attended the conference. As I reflected on the psychological results of shared experience, I remembered the same result when I participated in Trek a few summers ago.

Sharing time, events, and/or work creates a bond. Hearing a presentation of ideas together creates a shared reference point for future conversations.

In the same way, shared worship experiences create community. Hearing a sermon together shapes our minds. Congregational prayer -- when done right -- binds us together in our approach to God. To an even greater extent, congregational singing builds connections among us as we lift up a shared offering to God. (I think congregational singing has a greater result than congregational prayer because it's easier for every individual to participate actively.)

God of course knows us better than we know ourselves. Long before we realized the value of shared experience, He gave us the Lord's table. In the opportunity to share the bread and wine, He was addressing the phenomenon of building community through shared experience.

When believers work together to feed the hungry (for example), we not only benefit the recipients, we are built up/strengthened as a body. As living stones built into a spiritual house (I Peter 2:5), we are cemented by shared experience.