Resting

It is Springtime in The Orchard and as the dreary grey days move away and brother sun shows himself more (more frequently and more hours per day!) it is tempting to make lists of things to do. It is easy to think that with Winter gone, activity should become paramount. While it is true there are things to be done, the deeper truth is that any action must spring (pun intended) from a deep place of rest in our beings.

The following is taken from a letter dated March 4, 1968, about seven months before Thomas Merton’s untimely death. The recipient is Sister J. a young nun who wrote to Merton about her order’s experiment of living in groups of five.

The idea of community really needs reviving: it has got lost in the idea of institution. Community and person are correlative. No community without persons; no persons without community. Too organized an institutional life tends to stifle both community and personality. Primacy tends to be given to an organizational task. Community is an end in itself, not a means to carry out tasks. Community is ordered to life, as a good in its own right. It is life-centered, person-centered. Hence we should not get too anxious about “getting anywhere” with community, except that community itself should “be” and celebrate itself in love. Probably one of the things about it is that it is too simple. We have forgotten how to be that simple. But I am glad your generation is finding out about it again, and maybe the rest of us can learn from you.

What stood out to me:

No community without persons;
no persons without community.

I understood “no community without persons” intuitively. It is like saying “no silverware without forks, knives, and spoons” But the 2nd half grabbed me. “No persons without community” -- to be fully myself, I must be a part of something greater than myself. In the story Into the Wild the main character learns much too late that living alone is not the best situation for a person – because there is no one with whom to share. In fact, he dies because he is alone.

Community is an end in itself,
not a means to carry out tasks.

Community is ordered to life,
as a good in its own right.
It is life-centered, person-centered.

Hence we should not get too anxious about
“getting anywhere” with community,
except that community itself should “be”
and celebrate itself in love.

If there is a correlation between community and personhood, then the importance of a person learning to “be” naturally fits into community life as well. I’d never thought of that. I think of the church as the spiritual "nation of Israel", which the Bible says is – “blessed in order to be a blessing” – but I always thought of that in terms of activity: food given away, cars washed, money donated, moving boxes hauled – all the practical ways a community can “give” to others. But this idea that somehow the world is made a better place simply by the community “being” – just by the community “celebrating itself in love” is foreign to me. Refreshing, but foreign. So if Cathy & I and some others get together and have dinner and enjoy one another and celebrate together the wonder of God’s sovereignty in bringing us together as a community…this is “enough”? Only? Ever?

In personhood, there is a time for “be”ing and a time for “do”ing – as long as “do”ing flows out of “be”ing. So likewise with community. Anything we “do” must flow out of who we “are” and are “becoming” and that only happens as we dwell together.

King David wrote about this in Psalm 133:1-3 when he began:

Behold how good and pleasant it is
when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity

What I hear God saying in this:

I made you with an innate appreciation for being alone but, at a deeper level, I made you for community. I made you to be with others: you *need* them in order to *become* completely you. I’ve called you out to individuate, yes -- but a part of that leaving home and family is joining to a new home and family –- a new community I am building around you. The Orchard is a part of that but there is more/other besides that.

Before anything was created, I AM community. Out of me -- out of community -- springs all life and all personhood; all blessing.

Prayer:

Teach me my need for others. Teach me to seek them out and then allow them to be used by You to help me become who You’ve called me to be. May we gather together and learn to “be” as a community – that You may be shown to be a God of love and togetherness and peace in this busy and fast-paced world.

Say Yes

Hat tip to Jen Lemen

~ Keith

New Growth

Today is the first day of Spring, and we're enjoying the warmth of brighter days and clearer skies.

We've begun meeting with another couple for weekly dinner and discussion. We've been sharing our stories thus far and looking forward to how we want to explore faith and community together. We come from a variety of faith backgrounds and levels of understanding, and are really enjoying the warmth of friendship and clearer futures.

The buds are just starting to form, but the growth deep inside (eagerly waiting to burst out and bloom!) is there and raising our hopes; fulfilling our dreams.

Kingdom & Missionality

Cathy & I recently attended a 2-day gathering in Vancouver, WA featuring Rev. Todd Hunter & Dr. Winn Griffin. It was an inspiring time, and I provided a tweet-stream under the hash-tag #kmvanc. For those of you who didn't get to follow it, you can get the stream here. As with a blog, you'll need to go to the last page and read bottom-to-top to get the chronological feel of it.

~ Keith

(I had thought of cutting and pasting each tweet, and creating links and such...but that would be WAY too much work!)

Solstice Simplicity

Tomorrow is the winter solstice and in our neighborhood all is quiet and white. Beneath the surface though, new life is germinating. A few days ago we received an eMail from the Association of Vineyard Churches officially welcoming us as a Vineyard church plant.

Rather than getting caught up in busyness and trying to somehow make things happen, now is an excellent time for us to pause. Resting quietly, we can consider our roots. Our good friend and coach Dave recently sent us a quote by Thomas Merton which served as a wonderful reminder to us of what we're here to accomplish or, better put; who we're trying to become.

Merton had aspirations to move near the Ecuadorian capital of Quito to start a new community. In a letter dated July 1958, he said

I would like to embark on a new form of monastic life, a very simple kind of life...fully integrated in the life of the region, and in the soil, yet also fully in contact with the intellectual life of the Capital.

I would not carry on any special “work” or “apostolate”* (this is where the mistake is generally made by so many). I would not have any arguments to sell to anybody: I would not try to “catch” people and make them go to confession, etc. Preferably I would not even dress as a priest or as a monk, but as an ordinary person. I would live a life of prayer, of thought, of study, with manual labor, and writing, a life not only in contact with God in contemplation but also fully in contact with all the intellectual, artistic, political movements of the time and place. But I would not intrude into the life of the place as one with a “mission” or a “message”; I would not try to sell anybody anything. My function would be (as it must be in any case) to be a man of God, a man belonging to Christ, in simplicity, to be the friend of all those who are interested in spiritual things, whether of art, or prayer, or anything valid, simply to be their friend, to be someone who could speak to them and to whom they could speak, to encourage one another, etc.

Thomas Merton: A life in Letters (p. 28)

We're settled in and watching the snow fall; resting quietly and reflecting. What a wonderful time.

~ Keith

* "apostolate" is the Catholic term for a "church plant"

What is The Orchard?

An orchard is a collection of trees, intentionally planted by The Orchard Master, as an expression of beauty, and as a source of healthy nutritious fruit.

We are a community of people trying to model ourselves in The Way of Jesus, The Master. Like trees in His orchard, we want to bear fruit in our lives which offers sustenance to others around us, and join with God in fulfilling His dreams of beauty in all we are and do.

We're friends of God, relying on Him as our source, relating to Him intimately, looking to Him continually, and honoring Him fully.

We love all those He brings our way: walking beside them, encouraging them, and championing them; sharing our life with them -- inspiring them on their journey toward God.

We endeavor to impact others with the Love of God in practical, purposeful ways so as they experience God's love through us, they come fully alive in Him and find their place in His family -- in His Orchard.

A Life Community

If you came here wondering

"What time do you meet on Sunday mornings?"

or

"Where is your church building located?"

then I'm sorry to disappoint you by telling you we're not that kind of church. If you are looking for that type of a Vineyard experience, there is a fantastic Vineyard church right here in Salem, and you can visit them online here.

Don't get me wrong -- we love churches that meet on Sunday mornings in a rented space or in their own building and explore together what it means to love God and love each other. We just see ourselves living a life a bit different than that. We were a part of that type of church community for many years and as you'll read in various posts here, we've felt pulled to start something a bit different. It used to be that we were so busy in church activities we were never able to rest. Now we want to live a quiet life and love God and love people in the midst of that rest

Before, it was a problem if
we had no normal life outside of church.

Now, we're actually trying to have
no church outside our normal life.

So what does church look like to us? Well, it is somewhat hard to put into words on a blog like this. Probably the best way to begin to explain it is to say this: how about you eMail us, and we can talk about it over a glass of wine and a good meal?

One day we'll have had enough meals and hung out with enough people that it will make sense to start having larger gatherings of folks where we all eat a meal together and spend time exploring Christian Spirituality. Or maybe we'll go do something to impact our local community in a positive way, and then hang out at a coffee shop together and share with one another what we saw God doing in our midst. Along the way we'll be following Jesus and loving Him, each other, and anyone else we encounter along the way.

Sound good to you?