Community
Well, I'm back. I don't know if I'm going to keep doing this or what. I've got things to write about, but I don't know if I have the time or the motivation. We'll see how it goes.
What I've been thinking about most recently is community, as it pertains to Christian life. Winter Camp, as usual, was amazing. I seem to be at my best when I'm at camp. I don't think this is unusual.
It seems like we tend to separate community from the rest of life. We go on retreats or whatever and we have these great experiences of intimacy and commonality and it's refreshing and inspiring. And then we go back to our real world and try to live our lives the way we wanted to or thought we were going to when we were at camp.
Why do we live like this? I know that I can't live at home the way I can at camp. Maybe that's a failure on my part. Maybe I'm supposed to be able to be able to transcend my circumstances and feelings and be loving and purposeful all the time. But I think it's easier to change my environment than to stop being affected by it.
I know its not always possible to create an ideal environment. I know things get in the way, or things fall apart, and I can't just hide from the world at camp or somewhere. But I don't think I should have to choose between being in community and being in the world.
I want to live in a community. A focused, structured, missional community. I want to have people around me who are committed to the same goal, and committed to me. I want people to serve, and to serve with. I want people to guide me and encourage me and touch me and share their lives with me.
I don't think I'm being greedy or unrealistic. I think this is the way I'm meant to live. And I think I can do it.
I don't know how all the details will work, but I'm trying to figure it out. Maybe I'll join a monastery. I hear there are Franciscans in town. Maybe I'll hook up with the New Monastics. Maybe I'll run away to L'abri for a bit. Maybe I could start my own thing. I don't know.
I'm open to ideas.
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12 comments:
Camp is special because it is not everyday life it is a change from the normal. When people get into that kind of environment they change, they are not their actual selves.
If camp became everyday life do you think it would retain its "specialness"? Or would it become routine as usual?
I am not saying communal living is bad or anything. I just think that it losses its novelty once routine kicks in.
I am sure I am stealing this from someone but...you can't run any from your problems they always seem to catch up with you at some point no matter where you go.
Although it would be cool if you become a monk :)
Jake;
I think that the biggest difference between camp life & "normal" life comes down to precisely what you said: focus. At camp, each person has chosen to be there & each person is aware that there is a common goal to strive toward. In normal life, we seem to be much too separated or individualistic to be able to get together & strive for a common goal. Living at camp 2 years ago taught me that it isn't the length of time--or even the surroundings--it's the determination of striving for a commonly held purpose. I see echoes of that over here in Thailand, and to be honest, I see how ridiculously important it is for a community--even a 'missional' community like the one I'm in--to acually have a stated, focused, directed, shared and srtiven-for purpose. Over here, individualism seems to overshadow the imitations of a common purpose (I wisht we'd be more intentional...), which ends up giving this community the feeling of 'normal life' instead of 'united, committed community' like what camp has.
Them's my thoughts.
LE.
True, specialness is a big part of camp. But I think the enduring features of good community - the focus, the structure, and the support of other people - would continue to affect you long after their novelty wears off. Not that it would always be a lot of fun, but I think it would be really good for me.
Jacob,
You have touched on one of my favorite pass-times. I enjoy being together with people in a communal setting. I think you and your friends have voiced several of the reasons we enjoy these types of settings. I am convinced that a large part of our enjoyment of communal life is the sense of commonality and support. The rude and boring realities of daily life are minimized because we can leave them back at home. However, if the communal life were the norm it would soon develop that definite daily grind as we would in time be forced to deal with the idiosyncrasies of those people.
The attractive part of short term communal life is the entering into the idealism of our hopes and dreams. On the short term we can pretend to be what daily life seems to undermine. We can choose to do things that are pleasure oriented because we left the mundane back in reality. I have watched the same happen in our pursuit of spiritual highs. A spiritual high is not wrong, but it is good to remember that very little grows on the mountain peaks – it is in the valleys of life that most growth actually happens.
It is very normal to want to enjoy community. The main elements are acceptance and belonging. The sad thing is that so often we look to satisfy that need on a human level without realizing that it needs to be first and foremost satisfied in our daily “community” with God Himself. God has no idiosyncrasies or personality defects that we have to put up with. He knows the best way to put that deepest sense of meaning into life. The main reason we can’t find such is that we want to have things our own way, we like pick and choose what we think is best. So often we question the goodness of God.
We just got back from and excellent week-end retreat and even though I am very tired after staying up too late too many nights, I have wonderful memories to encourage me through the routines of daily life. Let’s make the best of real life by making the right choices every day. I wish the best for you in your daily routine.
"D"
I don't know why you want me to be other than anonymous. I should think my former affection of writing God as G_d (something I'm not going to do anymore) would have been enough to distinguish my posts. but it's your blog, so... you've got me using my name. I wouldn't pick a pseudonym for all the world, so.. fine.. it's my name. I realize that in the arena we're in it might as well be Adolf, or Judas (happily it's not), but I didn't pick it, I'm just named it.
You write:
"But I think it's easier to change my environment than to stop being affected by it."
now the following speaks more to freedom, and fullness, but the underlying idea is 100% applicable to your... "dilemma":
Ph'p:4:11: Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Ph'p:4:12: I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Ph'p:4:13: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Where's that coming from (as I'm using it)? If your in Christ, indwelt (as it happens) by the spirit, your hardly the affected, but the effector of your environment. While it's true that you wouldn't want to hang with unbelievers, or hypocrites for long (M't:13:58), one thing "it" shouldn't do is exert any insipid influence on your walk. Remember our LORD's prayer:
....Joh:17:14: I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh:17:15: I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh:17:16: They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh:17:17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh:17:18: As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh:17:19: And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh:17:20: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh:17:21: That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh:17:22: And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh:17:23: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh:17:24: Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Joh:17:25: O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Joh:17:26: And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
Wow.
Meditate a bit on this. How is it that he says we ought to be "in the world"? Cloistered away? Certainly not for longer than we have need to set ourselves in order.
We ought to be, chiefly among many things, living testaments to the Gospel before all men. This can only be done in the presence of men (men, as in everyone).
I ought to mention my high regard for the Franciscan's and their related orders (I had a cousin who was a Poor Claire, for instance). But much of monasticism strikes me as antithetical to the lifestyle commended by the apostles, whom we believe spoke by the spirit (don't we?).
Now there are orders that are out there in the trenches, I don't say this about them.
We need to be out there, leading by example if not word.
Your in a place God put you, surrounded by the people God put you in the midst of.. I suppose for a reason. Now perhaps you will say: (M't:13:57:) ...A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house.. Could be, so move over fifty feet, and continue on. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven (M't:5:16).
Do you know the "name" form converts all to lower case?
I'm not much of a "community" person myself; whether I'm an individualist or just plain antisocial I'm not sure. I do like the common goal and purpose thing though, makes things run smoothly. Funny how things can be so important to Jacob and mr. Elusion (both of which were groomsmen at my wedding) but not so much to me. Oh, and Kathryn has good stuff to say, as always.
Oh and for "Stuff to do" you should find a high-paying job for a bit, make a bunch of money, then travel the world for a year by yourself. Go to monastaries, mosques, temples and the like.... go see some lions and sharks as well, they are fun! Finally go do something really friggin' challenging and kind of scary.
Dr. Dee: I think my post is a bit misleading about what I'm hoping for in communal life. As I commented above, I recognize that a lot of what makes camp-style community so exciting and refreshing is that it isn't everyday life, and I'm not expecting that living communally in the world would produce the same effects.
I know that people can't be expected to get along all the time. I don't expect living communally to be any easier or more mountaintop-like than normal life - if anything, just the opposite. But I think it does have the potential to be more spiritually encouraging, challenging, and fulfilling. That's what I'm looking for.
I was amused by your statement that "God has no idiosyncrasies or personality defects that we have to put up with." In my experience (which I recognize is not everyone's) God is far more difficult to "put up with" than other people, and far less able to satisfy my needs. (Whether this is a result of a defect in God's personality or my own, or some other factor, I'm not sure.)
Adam: Thanks for using a name. I also don't care whether it be Adam or Adolf or whatever else, and it's not so much about being able to distinguish you from other Anonymouses as just having something to call you. As any radio talk host knows, it's easier to converse with someone if you have something to call them. (And I'm sorry about the lower case. Blame Blogger.)
I certainly do want to effect my environment. I don't think those who cloister themselves away in monasteries are necessarily doing wrong, but that's not what I'm called to. I want to live communally in the world (which I guess disqualifies most monastic orders) largely because I think I can be most effective in such an environment.
Filth-man: I do think everyone ought to be in community in some way, even if they don't particularly enjoy or desire it. But I also think that people need different types and degrees of community. For some, investing themselves in a marriage, work relationships and friendships might be perfect. Others may need something else.
I also think it's important for me to travel, and I may do that before or during my search for community. I hope both will be challenging and scary.
I wonder... for all your musing on Christian community, having people "committed to you", and ministering to the "least"... do you reach out to the "least" in the places where you seek spiritual connection?
Sometimes. Generally not very well. My desire to live in community is not about more fully employ my vast talent for loving people. I recognize my failure in this area and I think living in community would help me improve.
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