News From St. E’s
“Now that’s some serious water damage.”
“Mmm. Over there they lost a whole angel.”
Such is the state of St. Elizabeth’s. But last night, when we sang a worship chant that Brian learned in Peru, and the accapella refrain echoed back and forth from one side of the gathering to the other, no one seemed to notice crumbling plaster. Things defintely seem weighted more on the side of the angels.
The question of the night last night was “What happens when we emphasize building community instead of emphasizing loving one another (loving people)?” Before I share my response, I’d love to hear yours. (Since I’m not sure any of the ThPm folks are on this site, I’ll also send this out over our chat line.)
Talk to you soon.
Some thoughts…
I don’t believe you can have true community without loving each other. Most likely there will be personality “issues” or differences in beliefs and habits to manuever around but the search for unity and God’s love through us can overcome that.
Perhaps when you focus on building community it only hits the surface of what community really is/could be. It is similar to the idea of an acquaintance (building community) versus a good friend (loving each other resulting in community). With an acquaintance you may see them once a week or maybe more often at others’ events. Talk is surfacy (is that a word?) and may even feel like it is going a little deeper–topics that you wouldn’t talk about with the person you met 3 weeks ago at work, such as talking about sex/birth control, personal issues one is struggling with, or a problem with “XYZ.” Maybe there’s even some follow up. However, with friends, you seek them out, to spend time with them. (If distance is a factor, it doesn’t matter much.) Friends know more than the “pertinent facts” about your life. When asking “How are you?” they really want to know the answer. They remember past conversations and follow-up on how things are going. They call you to ask for help and you do the same–any time and for anything.
Mere ponderings…
i recently met friends of my neighbors and they said oh…. you live next to them? they are friends with all but known by none… it just hit me with what a sad statement that was.
I won’t bother saying anything except I waited for 3 days to ponder your question and I came back today with an answer which Elisabeth has already posted so I say I agree with her.
Well, I’ll finally post, though this thread may be too old now to attract any readers. The image I got when Brian asked this questions was one of a pod, I think they grown on magnolia trees. The pods are leathery and green, wide at the bottom and bulbous, narrowing to a point at the top. If you open them up the have long soft threads inside, like villi. I think when we focus on community, we build these pods, connected within, yes — but also turned inward and cut off from the outer world by too think of a skin. But when we focus on love, loving our neighbors as our selves, we must turn this pod inside out. Now those feathery threads are facing outward, now the seed can float from the pod and do what they are supposed to do. Maybe that’s too etheral. But it seems like there is something there to me.