Community

I desire to be part of a community so strongly. This feeling goes beyond social interactions and good friends within LGBC. The best example of what I wish to aim for is L'Abri. Several people and or families sharing a common living space. The daily tasks of cleaning, cooking, maintanence and construction were divided among all and attempts were made to rotate the unpleasent chores and assign people to the jobs that they enjoyed and took pride in.

Its not too difficult to find people who enjoy cooking, but the hours of isolation in the kitchen that often accompanies it ruins this creative outlet for most people. There is also the cleanup and the monotony of you being the one person serving day after day after day. Once a few people are coupled together to prepare a larger meal, cooking becomes a wonderful social activity. Also, setting up multiple cooks allows people to switch off and break up the monotony. Providing good food to a large group of appreciative people also makes the preparation a joy.

Gardening, cleaning, washing clothes... all of these tasks can become meaningful. They are not simply chores, but they are the ways in which you can physically serve the friends and family you are in community with and know that they are giving to you in the same way. Necessities and chores remain if you still choose to look at them in that light, but in actuality you are becoming servents to each other, sharing grace and giving out of your blessings daily and in immediately visible ways.

I envision one large house or a couple houses around each other with areas of privacy for rest and study, but also large gathering areas to pray, worship, and play together, and a large dining room to share meals together. A large kitchen is essential here. I am firmly convinced that the kitchen is the heart of any home. The beauty of community is that this can start small (three or four people) and continue to grow and grow.

It would take a lot of work to decide upon the division and exchange of labor, communal finances, and general feel of the place. I wish I had the answers and could simply set up a community starter kit and take off, but a community is a living organisism; it grows and changes with the people with it. No two are ever alike. Communities take many forms today. Cults where everyone wears bathrobes are a little extreme, but any family working together is a small community, chat rooms and blogs are allowing long distance communities to form. For me though, sharing a physical space is a neccesary part of community, to live and work for and beside my brothers and sisters.

The key, and I mean The Absolutely Essential Piece, to a thriving community is a strong commonality. If its a club or cyber based community, enjoying a specific artist or vehicle model can be sufficient, but for the community I envision, there has to be a uniformity of core beliefs and morals. We can debate the benefits of foot washing or saving the Spotted Owl, but the answers to Who God Is, Who We Are in Relation to Him, and How We Live In Accordance With These Identities must be understood, cherished, and respected by each member of the community.