Living in Community

I am starting to get a sense of the joys of living in community as well as the work involved. My favorite feature of community so far is evening prayer, especially when followed by a community meal. This is where living together for the sake growing in Christ really shines.

Today I made porcupine meatballs. I made one batch in our normal way and tried another batch as a vegetarian dish using black beans. Apparently the rice I used was not of the par-boiled variety so they wound up kind of crunchy.  But the real joy was sitting together at a picnic table by the street curb enjoying the meal together even as the rest of the neighborhood passed by, seeing the clouds reflect the setting sun and the fireflies joining us to entertain the kids. It is an idyllic life.

It is also a lot of work. I can see already how difficult it can be to keep channels of communication open. It has been especially difficult with the intense heat this week, we spent the last couple evenings in our air conditioned room rather than chatting. Last night we had a wonderful reading of the first half of Othello, but I was strangely withdrawn not even daring to read.  It will be interesting to see how the next weeks play out and if what binds me loosens its grip.  I think three weeks may be just about right.  One is over too fast, like a vacation.  Two is comfortable. By three we ought to have gotten to the real work of living in community under a spiritual rule.

Union and Communion

The Union and Communion by J. Hudson Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a surprisingly mystical work from the founder of the China Inland Mission. I found it passionately written. Taylor takes a look at the Song of Solomon through the eyes of a Christian Mystic. He identifies with the bride enraptured in her bridegroom, sick with love. In her he finds the dramatic experience of the believer, at one time caught up in union with Christ, at another feeling the pain of separation because of her own heart "prone to wander."

Taylor also betrays a glimpse of his own soul. This hero of modern missions has the heart of a mystic - not one caught up in the navel-gazing which causes many to impugn the mystics, but one whose ardent love for his Beloved stirs him to action.

When she is separated from him for the second time, the bride tells the daughters of Jerusalem how lovely he is, her heart inflamed and faint with love, growing more so as she tells it. (SS 5:9-16)

The LION of the tribe of Judah is to His own bride the KING of love; and, with full heart and beaming face, she so recounts His beauties that the daughters of Jerusalem are seized with strong desire to seek Him with her that they also may behold His beauty.

This is why Hudson Taylor went to China! His heart was so full of his savior's beauty that he had to share it. In comparing the church to the bride of Solomon, he also declares that this is the experience of every Christian, to be so wholly in love with Christ that mission flows from the heart like honey from the comb.

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Sabbatical Adventure: Chicago

Yesterday we made the adventurous journey from Michigan to Chicago.  Our eight week sabbatical begins with a stay with the Community of The Holy Trinity, an intentional community living in a Lutheran parsonage lovingly called the 'Nidge.  Packing for several weeks is an exercise in the discipline of simplicity.  We packed sparingly but we were still cramped.  Before leaving Michigan we bought groceries to bring with us, so that everyone besides the driver (*me) was buried in.

We are trusting God as we embark on this adventure.  We trust God will provide our every need and meet the needs of our congregation as we are gone as well.  We have no money.  Yet we trust God to make a way.  It will be exciting to see how God provides.

As we prayed and prepared to leave during the first week of our sabbatical, Elaine felt that we needed to trust God for $5000!  That is crazy. (God is crazy.)  We feel sure God directed us to take this sabbatical and believe that God will provide for it.  Not only that, but as Elaine was praying she felt God didn't want us to worry about money and that having $5000 would make that possible.  We shall see how God works it out.  We have been blessed with a few hundred so far.