Community of Strivers Alive in the Faith
I’ve been without words this last couple of months. Wanting to write and the will to do it for myself, and whomever may visit this site, has been at an arm’s length though there is plenty in my lif,e and that of the world, that could be written. Break time is over.
I took fourteen days, a fortnight as the Brits say, of holiday in October. Rather than travel, as we usually do, my companion and I remained home and did some of those things that needed to be done around the house that neither of us want to do with regular time. Those two weeks included dining most evenings. At our house there is eating and dining. Dining is a meal at our dining room table. Multi-layered jazz riffs provide the background of our dinner conversation. No TV in the background and no phones. We try to dine at least two nights a week in regular time.
I rearranged my office. Even with my understanding of family systems theory, stages of faith development, social and psychological development, and years of observing families in youth ministry, I’m flummoxed from time to time about the things that are imprinted on me by my parents. Of the many, my father’s work ethic. My mother’s need to move furniture around in our living room two or three times a year. That usually happened on a Saturday, but it wasn’t always confined to that day. You knew it was about to happen if you wandered in to see Mom standing in a corner of the room and studying it. Then, unplugging, sliding, and lifting began. Some of our stuff was heavy. Well, at that time most of it was. The sofa sleeper the heaviest of all. So, she needed help. Before cable, which was my childhood and most of my high school years, that meant the TV/entertainment center was moveable. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes after all the lifting, sliding, and unplugging, the room looked exactly as it did when she (we) began. I can remember the look in my father’s eyes one time coming into the living room. He whispered, “Turn around and go outside. Save yourself. You mom is moving furniture today.”
So it is that I move my office furniture around at least twice a year. Usually, those few feet and a different view out the window, can shake me from complacency and give me a new perspective on the work that is mine or the coming months of life. I would move our living room furniture, but for the fireplace, size of the furniture, and the site of the cable TV box makes this nearly impossible. My companion is glad for those limiting factors.
In the rearranging of my office furniture, bookcases and two desks, I also cleaned out drawers and the office closet. That included digital files. In the sorting, deleting, and moving files to cloud storage, I found an audio file of a sermon by Rev. Dr. Peter Gomes from 2003. His words to my denomination’s General Assembly remain relevant today (listen to the sermon below). One portion brought me back to the keyboard and words. Dr. Gomes notes that the understanding that Paul had of the word “saint,” supported by the Greek that is used, is of a community of strivers in the faith and not those that have died in the faith. Maybe it is a both and, or at least that’s a middle way for Christianity, Protestant and Catholic, to make sense of the reasonable service we are called to offer in our divide, fractured, my tribe right or wrong American culture.
Either today (Nov 1), last Sunday (Oct 30), or this Sunday (Nov 6) many will recognize Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) or All Saints Day. I’ve written of those that have been saints to me and for me. This year several more have claimed the promises of their Christian baptismal faith that were important fixtures, conversation partners, or relationships. That includes my mother-in-law. We miss you. Rest well.
This “All Saints Day,” I’m thinking of those that are part of my community of strivers in faith. Like those that have died, I have a small group that set an example of ministry, kick me in the pants when I need it, encouraged me, allow me to learn from mistakes, and embrace me as one called to ministry and leadership. They are colleagues, peers, friends. They are granted the right to tell me “You are completely wrong.” or “What’s your problem?” or “Do better because I know you can.” or “Step back and take a break.” Why? Because I know they aren’t just criticizing me because I’m a liberal GenX’er. It’s tone and content. I’m not attacked. I’m accountable. Some know they are in the circle. Most don’t. This small group of folks consistently care about community. They hold community accountable to its ideals, even when it doesn’t appear to be in their best interest.(1) They do it even when it means they have to take the last quarter out of their pocket and leave it on the community table, again (thank you Dr. Toni Craven for that phrase). They span the theological and political spectrum and chasm.
This week, consider who is in your community of strivers alive in faith.
Note
- This is missing in the current political climate in America. I wonder if America’s ideals will survive this adolescent outburst of rebellion and disdain for the other.
And now, a lengthy aside. From my perspective, this manifested with the election of former President Obama. His election opened a fear that if a non-white person with a name that didn’t sound “American” could become President, and have decision making authority, then America would be lost or changed beyond recognition. Enter the “Tea Party.” Coded language, a white lash and threats of violence gave way to former President Trump’s open racial rhetoric. That has become what we see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears what House Members and Senators say at Federal and State levels about the other. Not one Republican or Democrat is willing to hold their party leadership or other members of their party accountable for their words or actions. If it “owns” those others, all the better. We can fundraise off it. We know it. We know it and witness it everyday. The overly pious that call themselves “evangelical” Christians have wagered their expression of faith on political power to control culture. For some, this is an effort to manipulate the Holy One to act on their timeline rather than the divine’s ideas of “last days.” A portion of the Democratic Party wants to embrace a multi-ethnic America that practices democracy, non-religious liberty and religious liberty, gendered identity equality, and economic equity more quickly than most of the country is ready to move. It sees corporate social welfare (socialism) and asks, “Why corporations rather than citizens?” They call it progressive. A portion of the Republican Party wants a multi-ethnic America as it was before the Civil Rights era when non-whites, poor whites, and women knew their place, most went to a Christian church on Sunday, and that maintained cultural power. Keep the have-nots fighting among themselves for power and status and we keep control. They call it conservative. How shall we remain united states? Probably by requiring public service in the military or peace corps for at least two years right after high school. America is a melting pot, or at least it was somewhat, as I learned history through primary school, college, and graduate school. It has become a Mulligan stew of positions vying to be the base ingredient of the roux.
