Some communities are defined by proximity, structured of wood or stone or brick and bound by lines on a map. But the community of believers is made of holy, living stones cemented with the mortar of Christ’s love, crossing all lines, and having no permanent address.
Most of us fear community because we think it will call us away from ourselves… What a curious conception of self we have! We have forgotten that self is a moving intersection of many other selves. We are formed by the lives which intersect ours.
Community is not built through sitting in the same building and singing the same songs. It is forged in the fires of life. When we know each other deeply—the good, the bad, and the ugly—community is experienced. Roots grow deep when we know we are loved by others and...
And the Church must be forever building, and always decaying, and always being restored… What life have you if you have not life together? There is no life that is not in community, And no community not lived in praise of God. from "The Rock"
There has never been a time when I have not been really happy in the relationship of the parish ministry. The church can really be a community of love and can give one new confidence in the efficacy of the principles of brotherhood outside the family relation. The...
We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, “It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.” Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.
Contrary to the conventions of our thinly moralistic culture, this emphasis on gladness and selfhood is not selfish. The Quaker teacher Douglas Steere was fond of saying that the ancient human question “Who am I?” leads inevitably to the equally important question...
The Hebrew term “shalom” is roughly translated in English as “peace.” But it can also mean salvation and liberation, safety and security, wholeness and completeness. Shalom happens when every relationship within the created order is set right, whether the scale be...
Choral music is not one of life’s frills. It’s something that goes to the very heart of our humanity, our sense of community, and our souls.
I am convinced that a community-called-beloved is possible. This is an admittedly fragile possibility, but it is not a utopian dream. I believe that people of good will harbor a persistent hope that our planet can be a place of belonging for all its inhabitants. To...