thinking about global community

This moment of introspection is becoming the best part of my day.

I was nearly half an hour late to church this morning. I did not miss the sermon, however, and the message was widely centered around the idea of community. We follow the lectionary at my church, and the gospel reading this morning was quite lengthy-- the service of foot washing that Jesus does for the disciples. How in those simple actions, Jesus was once again in service to the world, service born of love for community. And the prime example of how we are all called to serve-- our love is an action-- our community. We experience community in relationships; relationships between two people-- ourselves and another-- but our community is not just those relationships put together. We understand on the micro level, but we are not limited to a micro community. Our community is not just who we know and spend our time with, our community is the entire body of our human brothers and sisters. The global community and every living thing in it.

I realize how 'hippie' this sounds. But it feels so enlightened. I was not reared to care this way for others-- sure, I was taught to be fair, and to not harm, and that my actions have consequences. But to actively seek loving others-- no, no, that I still am learning how to do. The more time I spend not struggling to care for me, the more energy I have to devote to keeping my eyes and ears open to witness the rest of the world live. And open eyes, once opened, cannot be closed without remembering images of what has already been seen. It's okay if I sound 'hippie,' because I'm finding out that if caring for others is 'hippie,' than that is a moniker I'll gladly accept.

I was able today to remember a not-too-distant dream of living in intentional community. And just because my first opportunity to live in intentional community did not come to long-term fruition, does not mean that the idea of living that way has failed. I still really believe that when you live together with others, when people born from different families depend on one another for their livelihood and in service to each other and to others, still, family is created. No one can control the circumstances of their birth, but we all can control where we go from there. I so often feel on the verge of getting it. On the verge of being able to cast away my materialism and consumeristic nature, to not only know logically that the things in life that are important don't have anything to do with how I look or how much I have, but how when I share what I have with others, I create beauty. Today, I remembered how close I have come to that feeling, and that it exists. I remembered why I wanted to start this blog, and more what the idea for this project was centered around-- the global community. To see what others are doing, beyond my sheltered life. To spread a message of empowerment and hope to more and more. To hear their stories and to acknowledge and preserve them as a source of encouragement to others who feel that they simply can't. My hope is to live and breathe and sleep and dream community. How could I have forgotten?

In conversation with a friend this weekend about living in service to community, she shared with me a really intriguing idea. It seems that she keeps a list. A list of 100 things-- a life list. I think this is probably somewhat similar to the 'Bucket List' idea, although I never saw the movie. The only difference here, is that you can't make your list all about you. It shouldn't be 100 things to do before you die that will bring you glory. Or even all things for the sake of doing them. The point is to make a list of 100 things that will benefit your community. Things that will make you a better person, more equipped to serve others. Things that will directly or indirectly provide some sort of service or relief to someone in need. And while that sounds really specific, (and also really 'hippie'), it needn't be boring. For instance, my friend has on her list that she'd like to own a beach house some day when she has extra funds to invest, so that she can volunteer her beach house as a retreat center for young people groups to gather for fellowship. While I don't necessarily want to add that to my list, I can understand that it's a bit more realistic for someone in her (or my) position to have a goal like that than to put on the list, 'give all of my possessions to charity'. In creating a goal, it is sometimes necessary to be realistic. I've only had a few days to think about it, but I thought that I would start my Community 100 List here-- and since I fully anticipate this blog will stay with me as I work toward #1, perhaps I'll get to cross some other things off the list, as well.

Community 100 List
1. Experience global community through the preparation and two year adventure of Project Empowerment (Project Global Community! Should we rename?)
2. Pay off my student loans, through my own blood, sweat and tears-- and never borrow again
3. Graduate with (not only degrees but) ideas and understanding to implement them
4. Understand and be able to communicate with enough Spanish and French for Latin America and Africa
5. Eat locally
6. Learn how to preserve and can
7. Garden and share the bounty with others, successfully
8. Walk more, drive less
9. Live more generously, bury selfishness
10. Meet brethren, and sit with God on all seven continents (or in the getting to of all seven continents)
11. Be a storyteller with hopeful and sometimes disturbing narratives-- and publish them

Clearly I'll be thinking about more ways to contribute to the global community-- and listing them-- this week!