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Closer in community
What does
it mean to be community? The answer is a challenge to a culture treasuring
individuality above all else. We who claim the name “Christian” are called
to witness to a community that binds us not only to all who believe but
to service in that name. That community extends beyond our own existence
to embrace and call upon all of the saints, those who struggled as we do
with their human nature but whose faith sustained them despite the trials
of this world. Being a part of that community demands that we look beyond
our own level of comfort and go about the hard work of mourning with those
in sorrow, tending to those in pain. It also means that we rejoice together,
praise together, share as one the wonder that comes from being a risen
people.
We
are still learning how to do this. In many ways we are in our infancy.
In our worship, we struggle to pray as an assembly as opposed to a gathering
of individuals. Even our multiple Mass schedule, a practical necessity
in many parishes, works against us, for it is rare for an entire community
to worship at once. Some of our devotional practices have an exclusionary
feel to them and seem to have little connection to works of service or
charity. For a people whose identity is rooted in the paschal mystery,
we are oddly uncomfortable with the rites of death and dying, and we often
fail to support the bereaved among us as we should. At the other end of
the journey, though we have made progress in celebrating baptism and other
rites of initiation in the midst of community, we still resist opening
some of our celebrations to the community beyond our families. Opening
ourselves in a way that leads to spiritual sharing, while profoundly rewarding
in the long run, makes us vulnerable. That vulnerability is frightening
and sometimes threatening to people long accustomed to a very private type
of faith experience. As we care for one another, we must be gentle in our
attempts to invite others along the way. Though it seems that we have a
long way to go to become a people truly formed in community, the journey
is the important part.
In
this issue of ML, we probe the dimensions of community. Lizette Larson-Miller
guides
us through the ways that the faith community is called to the ministry
of consolation. This ministry is not limited to liturgical or ritual function
but extends to the ordinary tasks of simply getting through the day in
difficult times. There is a place here for everyone: the ones who lead
prayer, those who cook, those who have just the right words or who know
when a loving touch is needed.
Kathleen
Brown and David Orr, in the last of their three- part “Spiritual Friendship”
article, reflect on how we are all called to be bread for one another.
In journeying together, we are broken and shared, and if we allow ourselves
to be open to the experience, we build community one relationship at a
time.
Community
is formed and strengthened in the worship experience, and that requires
an assembly identity. Marc DelMonico takes a critical look at the
eucharistic liturgy and poses challenging questions regarding the action
and participation of the assembly at each ritual moment.
Ron
Raab tells a story of community foundation and how that story is immortalized
in hidden images in their stained glass; the lived tradition of these people
of service are displayed in icons expressing sacrifice and hard work. In
a more familiar presentation of stained glass art, the winners in our Visual
Arts Awards Art Glass category witness with rich imagery, calling all of
us to reflect more closely on the power of the light that calls to each
of us.
As
we struggle to enter into an ever-new understanding of community, may we
be graced with the ability to dream, the desire to be one in Christ, and
the passion to continue the journey.
Lord,
you call us to your service: “In my name baptize and teach.”
That
the world may trust your promise, life abundant meant for each,
give
us all new fervor, draw us closer in community:
With
the Spirit’s gifts empower us for the work of ministry. ML
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