time to change gears
Some talk about gender including chatter about md/mh and it’s time to change gears.
David and I have been talking a lot lately about process and journey as we explore together where we are and where we’re going in our faith walk.
I was talking to myself in the car today (yeah, I do that a lot) and something occurred to me. I think I’m looking for spirituality within the religion of Christianity that is nurtured in the context of community.
The one thing that continues to keep me rooted in “Christianity” is the spirituality that I think should be ever present but that I have not often seen. The spirituality found in the trinity, embodied in Christ, breathed by the Holy Spirit that I know is accessible.
What do I mean by spirituality? Good question. But I want it.
What has it looked like in your journey when you have experienced a deeply spiritual faith that connects you with God in the context of community?
The closest thing I think I’ve every experienced is a shared meal filled with laughter.
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- Posted by Mak at 10:15 pm
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Hey Mak,
My first thought when I read through your thoughts is, “it is even possible to experience spirituality within the religion of Christianity that is NOT nurtured in the context of community?” Certainly I am writing from my own perspective here, but I believe it is honest for me to say that the moments I “grew” (I know you could use any number of words here, but I’m sticking with growth) spiritually in the Christian faith was only through community. There were many years where I felt as if I was a lone-ranger Christian, out on the open plains, just me, my Bible and GOD. When I reflect on those years I see that I wasn’t growing in a healthy way, rather I was just learning the same few things over and over again. I hadn’t let anyone be a part of my spiritual formation and as a result I think I was just trying to reassure myself of the things I felt most confident of. But this, I now believe, is not the path to GOD that Jesus was guiding us to.
I don’t know if that makes any sense, so I’ll just offer a quick glimpse into the last community I was a part of. I was shepherding a house church before Lauren and I made the move up here. The deepest point for us was last summer. We spent the summer wrestling with the Sermon on the Mount, helping each other move into different places, worshipful sing-a-longs outside, wept and laughed over different things, welcomed new people and said “good-bye” to some old ones and many late night conversations at Old Chicago. I believe that that summer was one of the most GOD honoring was I could have spent that part of my life. I pray that GOD saw it the same way.
peace,
steve
I agree, I think the notion of an individual faith is a new one rooted strongly in post enlightenment/post industrial western philosophy.
Thank you for sharing your story, I think that’s beautiful.
Here’s where I struggle - I want that sort of thing to be the norm but as an introvert, I couldn’t sustain that kind of intense community all the time. So can we generate a spirituality that is rooted in trinity, fostered in community but also nurtured in “isolation” as it were. I believe we can I just have never seen it.
I know much of the neomonastics are trying to capture this but I just don’t think it’s my cup of tea…however, I think that elements of that lifestyle could be to a degree.
Mak,
I’m not an introvert but I’m married to one, so I am learning what that all means. I can see how that could be seen as “intense community,” but to me it was just life. We didn’t gather together every day; it was usually once a week, but somehow we were able to experience “deep church.” I’m sure Lauren saw the whole thing from a different perspective, though. I wonder if it’s our first inclination to gauge community by the stuff we do together as if the nature of community is business? That doesn’t make too much sense to me on paper, yet I know that it is the first way I try to flesh it out.
How do we get around that?
I’m with you on the neomonastics. I see great beauty in the resurgence of monasticism, but am certain that I do not belong in that camp right now.
peae