The act of creating community is a powerful one. You can be intentional about it and then, sometimes, it just happens. Many times the community is very visible and other times it is unseen, a knowing that you are connected in ways to a presence that exists in some special way. There is the community that happens in a school or church setting. There are communities that happen when friends commit to travel life’s paths with one another. Families are communities and neighborhoods can be, though many no longer embody this quality.
I have been thinking about community over the last week or so. I spent time at a retreat center last week whose hosts live in intentional community with one another. They share in the work and the welcoming of those of us who can do with a little ‘time out’ from the rhythm of our regular lives. Observing the kindness and care this community took with one another warmed my heart. I long for more time spent in their midst.
Last evening I watched an independent film created by a group of college students from the University of Michigan. The filmmaker had attended high school with our Seattle Son and had launched one of those ‘help fund me’ campaigns to which I had donated. The name of the project which the film followed was called “Thrive With Less”. Its purpose was to create a simpler life than the one these young adults had been living. Their experiences had them cutting back on all the things we seem to think so necessary to a 21st century lifestyle: excess in belongings, attachment to technology, addiction to fuel-consuming travel, and a need for large living spaces. They made a commitment to one another to change these behaviors and then began to live it…..and document what they were doing.
It was a fascinating look at a group of young adults who were truly reflecting, not only on their own lives, but the life of our nation, our time. It was both painful and joyful to watch their struggles and hear their questions. And while they would not necessarily describe it as I do, what I saw them doing was coming to an understanding of what it means to live in intentional community. This community was also what some might call contemplative. My words, not theirs. They made the commitment, at least for a time, to reflect on the ways in which they were ordering their days, what that meant, how they were accountable to one another and how their lives fit into the larger picture of the world.
How we make those connections to being a part of the world matters. Seemingly simple acts can produce the most amazing results. We are experiencing just such a gift of connection right in front of our eyes, actually right in front of our house. As a Christmas gift, my husband got me a Little Free Library. It was created by some men at our church who fix and build things around the building, using their gifts while they also create their own intentional community. These small structures have popped up in neighborhoods around the Twin Cities. Their purpose is to share books with passers-by, neighbors, strangers. Anyone can open the door and choose a book to take, return it or keep it.
After the ground finally thawed enough to be able to ‘plant’ the library, my husband placed it in front of our house. I had made a mental note of the books I wanted to put into it but did not have time to do so right away. That evening when I came home, I walked out with the books I had ready to go into the library. Opening the door, I saw a row of books already there. Someone had taken the opportunity to start the sharing! Over the weeks that the library has been open for business, children and youth from the neighborhood have been walking by, opening the door and checking out what is inside. Others have dropped off a book on their way to the school bus in the morning. Adults, walking briskly for exercise, stop, open the door and take a book ‘for the road’. As I have added a title now and then, I have noticed others that I did not put there. Our Little Free Library has become a sharing in a community, visible and invisible.
Today might be a good day to reflect on the communities of which we all are a part. How are these groups of people in which we are known intentional? What kind of community does your heart yearn for? How do our communities help us, and the world, thrive?
Remember…..sometimes the beginning of community is as simple as sharing a book.
