For many, a religious meeting place was where the first experiences of spiritual community took place. Depending on the emotional health of others there, the memories of that early landscape may feed one’s soul or not.
A few years ago, I noticed that most of the people I encountered talked about community in terms of identical belief systems, matching political preferences and an overall sameness. I began to long for the diversity that I had once known and wondered what it would look like to sit at a larger table?
While researching spiritual direction training organizations, I found a program that, although Christian in its teachings, welcomed interfaith circles. I went through the prerequisite week and began training with several individuals from varying faith communities across the United States. We met together, four additional weeks, over a two-year period.
The very first group assignment was to share our spiritual journeys and the particular faith communities of which we had been a part. Admittedly, I was uneasy. Even though I felt that I had prepared myself to accept what anyone in the group might share, I wondered if each of them could accept my journey and me.
The two-year experience was amazing! Every one of us brought tough life issues to the table. Without labels, judgment or giving any quick answers, we learned to be present and to listen deeply to one another, leaving room for God’s Spirit to work. Community flourished and by the end of week one; I described myself as being wondrously unnerved.
A healthy communal landscape gives broadening insights into self and God. Being in a safe community shows us how to love, in spite of differences and because of differences. Perhaps, at a certain place on the journey, too much sameness serves to get us stuck in having to belong to group rather than freeing us to be the body of Christ.
Sacred Ruminations*