COMMUNITY - Sep 2009
Recently, a member of our church relayed to me a brief comment made by a visitor during a worship service held during the past summer. The worship leader referenced our Mt. Vernon "community," and the visitor responded to the member "What community?" ...
... Apparently, the comment was said with just enough tone to indicate judgment rather than a genuine question. The judgment is hard to ignore for anyone involved in creating a sense of community here at Mt. Vernon. Yet, it is also a genuine question that is hard to answer. The question came up for me two years ago when I was filling out a questionnaire for churches while in search for a new congregation. I needed to address what I would do to create community, or something like that. "Wow" I thought to myself, "that's an ambiguous question."
I have several books with quotations of both famous and not so famous people. One is focused on women, another is THE Oxford Dictionary of quotes (famous in itself), several are for religious and spiritual quotes. One book is a collection of UU quotes, and one very important book of quotes is from the bible, "The Complete Concordance: Revised Standard Version Bible." Out of all these books, "community" was barely mentioned if at all. Only one was helpful, with a section called "Religious Community." This book, "A Dictionary of Religious and Spiritual Quotations," divided up the section into various sub-categories, such as "people," "church," "persecution," "toleration," and "care of the sick." This suggests two assumptions: that everyone has a common understanding of what "community" means, and that it is a complex subject. One of these assumptions is true. Humanity has tossed the term "community" around as if we do all have a common understanding of what it means. As I relayed in the September issue of the Windmill, I don't think that's true. Community has evolved over the years in relation to changes in society. As humanity has evolved so has our "sense of community." One person may have a clear "sense of community" while the next person, may not have any "sense" at all about the very same community.
I think the key is our desire for closeness or intimacy. One person may desire more intimacy than another; this difference is particularly apparent between women and men. In addition, individuals change their intimacy needs. One day we want more intimacy than the next. One day we may desire a strong "sense of community," through personal contact, phone calls, emails and holding hands. The next day, we may want to be alone with no contact to our "community." There are two lessons for me: first, while we talk a lot about the importance of community, we rarely write about it, and second, don't assume that "community" means the same thing to everyone.
I have several books with quotations of both famous and not so famous people. One is focused on women, another is THE Oxford Dictionary of quotes (famous in itself), several are for religious and spiritual quotes. One book is a collection of UU quotes, and one very important book of quotes is from the bible, "The Complete Concordance: Revised Standard Version Bible." Out of all these books, "community" was barely mentioned if at all. Only one was helpful, with a section called "Religious Community." This book, "A Dictionary of Religious and Spiritual Quotations," divided up the section into various sub-categories, such as "people," "church," "persecution," "toleration," and "care of the sick." This suggests two assumptions: that everyone has a common understanding of what "community" means, and that it is a complex subject. One of these assumptions is true. Humanity has tossed the term "community" around as if we do all have a common understanding of what it means. As I relayed in the September issue of the Windmill, I don't think that's true. Community has evolved over the years in relation to changes in society. As humanity has evolved so has our "sense of community." One person may have a clear "sense of community" while the next person, may not have any "sense" at all about the very same community.
I think the key is our desire for closeness or intimacy. One person may desire more intimacy than another; this difference is particularly apparent between women and men. In addition, individuals change their intimacy needs. One day we want more intimacy than the next. One day we may desire a strong "sense of community," through personal contact, phone calls, emails and holding hands. The next day, we may want to be alone with no contact to our "community." There are two lessons for me: first, while we talk a lot about the importance of community, we rarely write about it, and second, don't assume that "community" means the same thing to everyone.
