School for Conversion
Hello everyone! This is my first ever Veritas blog post...or should I say...Veriblog? Blogitas?
This is just to let everyone know about the weekend I just spent at a School for Conversion, living in and among some intentional communities in Kensington/Camden: The Simple Way and Camdenhouse. The school locates itself within what it calls the New Monasticism, and serves the multiple purposes of allowing visitors to come and see communities for themselves, and have conversations about the issues involved, as well as be inspired and see the thing in action, or "with flesh on." Several of us involved in Veritas have read Shane's book about living as an "ordinary radical," and been inspired/revolutionized, so I thought it would be appropriate to share with you all about my experiences there.
The main staple of the weekend was the "conversation:" large-group talks about the issues, trials, thinking, reasons behind, etc. of the new monasticism and various aspects of communal living. These conversations were led by various community members. We discussed community living, peace-making, eco-feminism, and other such issues. Sometimes, the conversation was dominated by community members, but this was not necessarily a bad thing as they had more experience and knowledge than us visitors.
There was a broad variety of ordinary radicals present to attend the SfC. Besides myself, the school was composed of
- Four French Canadians from a Montreal house-church network attempting to discern their direction
- An Oklahoman girl about to move into a community back home
- Four Southern Baptists from Mississippi who are looking for inspiration and direction, and to shake things up in their home church
- A Catholic from Virginia Beach who is part of a church in a military base
- A quiet, ex-punk, drifter, future missionary from Miami
- A scientist in a Chicago graduate school who is heavily into volunteer work and curious about community
- A married couple from Virginia who work for church and are dissatisfied with things as they are
- A girl from Delaware university (I didn't get talk to her much)
- A married couple involved in church work in Maine
- A girl who is studying design and looking into community
So there was good diversity.
We had a particularly hard-hitting experience at New Jerusalem Now. It's a community run primarily by a nun that focuses on recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. Our group studied the bible with many addicts and ex-addicts. We got to hear many stories and testimonies of lives being transformed. Absolutely gorgeous.
The food all weekend was delicious. No meat; all-vegetarian recipes. I spoke endlessly about how delicious it was. I didn't find out until after I'd eaten my third meal there that the vast majority of it was from dumpsters! That sounds gross at first because you picture lots of gross things mixing and being dirty and disease-ridden, but in reality it's not like that. Many stores, particularly major ones, throw away a lot of perishable food that is still good. So, if you know where and how to look, you can find good food that's been preserved and protected in bags, boxes, and containers. I participated in a run to a dumpster that the community frequents for some really good organic juice. We didn't find much, but it wasn't gross at all. It was inspiring for me though, and I think I may give dumpstering a try here at home in Blue Bell. For those living in neighborhoods of the city that have been utterly devastated by the heavy-handed, profit-seeking nature of the capitalist system, there is something glorious about subverting that system by refusing to put your money into it for food.
I was surprised to learn that there are currently only four people living in the two houses of the Simple Way. Something this trip definitely did for me was destroy the magical illusion I perhaps had (to an extent) of what communal living was like. Seeing these people up close, I realized that hey, they had flaws, too! Turns out they're just people like you and me! I knew that intellectually, but subconsciously still had some sense of romanticism attached to the whole idea that made that realization strange at first. I now recognize it as helpful and true.
However, at the same time that I lost a few fairy tales, I experienced more fully the goodness and beauty that can be found in this kind of lifestyle. It's a little like when you get to know someone well. You are more displeased with their faults, which come into clearer focus, but you learn to appreciate their good parts so much more, even if you'd heard about those good things before.
One example of many that comes to mind is the way that a loving, Christ-centered community supports one another. At the Simple Way, everything is dirty, it is crowded with many guests, some of the food you rescued from the dumpster may not be in the best condition, you have to deal with people knocking on your door frequently, and you have to deal with the pain of living in such a broken community sometimes realizing that your impact may be minimal in the face of such immense suffering and evil. Or, in the case of Camdenhouse, being greeted regularly outside with the nauseating smell of sewage sludge drifting in on the breeze. But the beautiful thing is seeing in the midst of that the jokes, laughter, and general good cheer. The obvious mutual encouragement that these people are to one another is just amazing and life-giving. I think it's made even stronger by the fact that they are in such dire straits.
I was overjoyed when I was able to attend a Circle of Hope meeting. I was shown a vibrant Christian community in Philadelphia that seems to value discipleship, social justice, simplicity, and peacemaking. A tough combination to find, or so I thought! I know every church has its weak points, and I'm sure this one does too, but I am excited to learn more about it and potentially get involved at some point in the future, when I live in Philly. I'll be visiting a cell group tomorrow night to check it out a little more.
I am still processing all that went on, but overall I learned some very significant things, not all of which I can put into words at the moment. "Ask me in a year."
Pictures from the whole thing can be found here:
Over and Out.
This is just to let everyone know about the weekend I just spent at a School for Conversion, living in and among some intentional communities in Kensington/Camden: The Simple Way and Camdenhouse. The school locates itself within what it calls the New Monasticism, and serves the multiple purposes of allowing visitors to come and see communities for themselves, and have conversations about the issues involved, as well as be inspired and see the thing in action, or "with flesh on." Several of us involved in Veritas have read Shane's book about living as an "ordinary radical," and been inspired/revolutionized, so I thought it would be appropriate to share with you all about my experiences there.
The main staple of the weekend was the "conversation:" large-group talks about the issues, trials, thinking, reasons behind, etc. of the new monasticism and various aspects of communal living. These conversations were led by various community members. We discussed community living, peace-making, eco-feminism, and other such issues. Sometimes, the conversation was dominated by community members, but this was not necessarily a bad thing as they had more experience and knowledge than us visitors.
There was a broad variety of ordinary radicals present to attend the SfC. Besides myself, the school was composed of
- Four French Canadians from a Montreal house-church network attempting to discern their direction
- An Oklahoman girl about to move into a community back home
- Four Southern Baptists from Mississippi who are looking for inspiration and direction, and to shake things up in their home church
- A Catholic from Virginia Beach who is part of a church in a military base
- A quiet, ex-punk, drifter, future missionary from Miami
- A scientist in a Chicago graduate school who is heavily into volunteer work and curious about community
- A married couple from Virginia who work for church and are dissatisfied with things as they are
- A girl from Delaware university (I didn't get talk to her much)
- A married couple involved in church work in Maine
- A girl who is studying design and looking into community
So there was good diversity.
We had a particularly hard-hitting experience at New Jerusalem Now. It's a community run primarily by a nun that focuses on recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. Our group studied the bible with many addicts and ex-addicts. We got to hear many stories and testimonies of lives being transformed. Absolutely gorgeous.
The food all weekend was delicious. No meat; all-vegetarian recipes. I spoke endlessly about how delicious it was. I didn't find out until after I'd eaten my third meal there that the vast majority of it was from dumpsters! That sounds gross at first because you picture lots of gross things mixing and being dirty and disease-ridden, but in reality it's not like that. Many stores, particularly major ones, throw away a lot of perishable food that is still good. So, if you know where and how to look, you can find good food that's been preserved and protected in bags, boxes, and containers. I participated in a run to a dumpster that the community frequents for some really good organic juice. We didn't find much, but it wasn't gross at all. It was inspiring for me though, and I think I may give dumpstering a try here at home in Blue Bell. For those living in neighborhoods of the city that have been utterly devastated by the heavy-handed, profit-seeking nature of the capitalist system, there is something glorious about subverting that system by refusing to put your money into it for food.
I was surprised to learn that there are currently only four people living in the two houses of the Simple Way. Something this trip definitely did for me was destroy the magical illusion I perhaps had (to an extent) of what communal living was like. Seeing these people up close, I realized that hey, they had flaws, too! Turns out they're just people like you and me! I knew that intellectually, but subconsciously still had some sense of romanticism attached to the whole idea that made that realization strange at first. I now recognize it as helpful and true.
However, at the same time that I lost a few fairy tales, I experienced more fully the goodness and beauty that can be found in this kind of lifestyle. It's a little like when you get to know someone well. You are more displeased with their faults, which come into clearer focus, but you learn to appreciate their good parts so much more, even if you'd heard about those good things before.
One example of many that comes to mind is the way that a loving, Christ-centered community supports one another. At the Simple Way, everything is dirty, it is crowded with many guests, some of the food you rescued from the dumpster may not be in the best condition, you have to deal with people knocking on your door frequently, and you have to deal with the pain of living in such a broken community sometimes realizing that your impact may be minimal in the face of such immense suffering and evil. Or, in the case of Camdenhouse, being greeted regularly outside with the nauseating smell of sewage sludge drifting in on the breeze. But the beautiful thing is seeing in the midst of that the jokes, laughter, and general good cheer. The obvious mutual encouragement that these people are to one another is just amazing and life-giving. I think it's made even stronger by the fact that they are in such dire straits.
I was overjoyed when I was able to attend a Circle of Hope meeting. I was shown a vibrant Christian community in Philadelphia that seems to value discipleship, social justice, simplicity, and peacemaking. A tough combination to find, or so I thought! I know every church has its weak points, and I'm sure this one does too, but I am excited to learn more about it and potentially get involved at some point in the future, when I live in Philly. I'll be visiting a cell group tomorrow night to check it out a little more.
I am still processing all that went on, but overall I learned some very significant things, not all of which I can put into words at the moment. "Ask me in a year."
Pictures from the whole thing can be found here:
Over and Out.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home