Community: Connecting to Place
Being in physical proximity with a thriving and varied community has always presented me with a mixed bag of emotions, including joy, overwhelm, gratitude, irritation, warmth, and the sudden, strong desire to protect myself. Embracing and contributing to community is a little confusing for someone of my nature, but I continue to work toward full presence in it because I understand that to be a core value in the life of a disciple, a life that asks itself “what would Jesus do if he were me?” The last couple of months of quarantine have brought to light much of the best and the worst in us. In myself, I see more clearly than ever how easily I could slip into an unhealthy isolation, perceiving others as interlopers intruding on my sacred personal space.
My husband can be an intense guy, with a gut level need to connect in the physical realm. His love for our children is a palpable thing, unwavering. I sometimes have to gently remind him that his desire to have them look him right in the eye while they talk about something important might be too overwhelming for them to handle. This is how I feel about looking straight at my own tendency to isolate. It’s overwhelming for me to see it, process it, and also figure out what to do about it. It is frightening to look that inner reality full in the face and see its potential to harm me and my most important relationships.
I think I have known since the first weeks of quarantine that re-entry could be very difficult for me. My circumference of protected space and time expanded without my intent. I realized that it could be difficult for me to let my people back in to that artificially inflated cache of reserves. However, like every other point of re-entry we will have to navigate, this can also be an opportunity for me to establish a better foundation than I had before. For this, I turn to the wisdom of others as a starting point. Jesus who went to the wilderness, the untamed parts of his homeland, to be formed by it. My own European ancestors, whose cairns and obelisks dot the landscape in lasting memoriam of a people tied inextricably to their place. And, as an American I think there is no wiser voice than Wendell Berry when considering the relationship between ourselves, our communities, and the land on which we live.
“The concept of country, homeland, dwelling place becomes simplified as "the environment" -- that is, what surrounds us, we have already made a profound division between it and ourselves. We have given up the understanding -- dropped it out of our language and so out of our thought -- that we and our country create one another, depend on one another, are literally part of one another; that our land passes in and out of our bodies just as our bodies pass in and out of our land; that as we and our land are part of one another, so all who are living as neighbors here, human and plant and animal, are part of one another, and so cannot possibly flourish alone; that, therefore, our culture must be our response to our place, our culture and our place are images of each other and inseparable from each other, and so neither can be better than the other.” -Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America
Here, I might find a way forward that feels much less vulnerable and tenuous, even if it is more difficult; I need to understand my community as directly related to our location, the land on which we walk, and the way we treat it as living, changing, and present in our midst every single moment of every single day. It is not a backdrop or a means to an end. It is inextricable-our parish, our pastor, the building in which we meet, and the soil on which its built. And yet we fail to notice it is even there until it can serve a superficial need. Many people right now are understanding the need to feel and connect with their place in a much more poignant way. It no longer feels trite to notice green things or listen to bird song-it feels like the most real thing there is. However, simply enjoying it as a source of whimsy or delight, though these things are wonderful, doesn't serve to plumb the depths of the relationship we have with our land.
I want to build on this as a foundation for re-entering community because I believe it to be vitally important to our future as a whole creation. I want to do this work because I believe it to be joyful and vibrant. I want to do this work because I believe it to be righteous. I want to do this work because I believe, truly and deeply, that it will bring all of us into an accord that can be mutually beneficial and long lasting. I want to do this work because I believe it is kingdom work.
Here are some steps I plan to take in an attempt to establish place and land, as gifted to us by a loving Creator, as an integral part of foundation for community:
Read and listen to the stories and lives of indigenous people of my place.
Here is one place to start learning about who lived on the land on which you stand before you did, if you are a resident of North America. Our spot on the map is traditionally attributed as land of Acjachemen (or Juaneno) people.
Read about and visit areas of re-wilding in my community. Learn about the ways re-wilding offers both benefits and costs to the people who live in this place. Here is a very interesting article about re-wilding efforts in Great Britain, if this is a new concept to you, that offers several different perspectives. We were tasked to care for and subdue creation, but certainly not to exploit it.
Spend a significant amount of time in undeveloped areas set aside for nature to do its thing. Notice the plants and animals that thrive there. Offer prayers of gratitude while there and open my ears to what I might be asked to do to serve these places.
Get involved in local conservation efforts. Listen to many different perspectives about the cost and benefits of these efforts. Have these conversations with my church family and invite them to explore our location as a place that was once wild and which offers sustenance and relationship.
Utilize my own property as a small but powerful area of conservation, natural habitats, and responsible use. Plant native plants, pollinator attracting plants, and a seasonal kitchen garden.
Get my hands dirty, step in the soil, and watch things grow because I gave them my time and energy. Be a physical body in my physical world. Stop insulating.
The way I commit to the people of my community is tied to the way we commit ourselves as a whole to the land on which we live, the land that supports us, and with which we are in a sometimes invisible relationship. It feels more important to me than ever to establish this as a cornerstone of community building. We’ve got some work to do to re-enter our communities, and it goes far beyond getting back out to restaurants and retail therapy.
As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated! Please take a moment to view my Community Respect Statement if you haven’t already.
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