communitas

I just returned from a long walk. I had planned on venturing out to Fort McHenry (about 4 miles from my apartment), which may indeed be my favorite spot in Baltimore.  However, when I was about a quarter-mile from my destination, I happened upon a thunderstorm...or rather, it happened on me.  As a result, I returned a bit sooner, and a great deal wetter than originally planned....

As I walked, I continued to ponder some thoughts that have been percolating in my mind for a few months. It's been a year since I moved to Baltimore, and in that time, I have experienced, firsthand, what it means to build community from nothing.  It's not really something I've had to do before.  When I think back on the transitions I've lived through, I've never really done them alone.  I was with my family, or in some cases, other friends had gone ahead of me.  Some of the groundwork had already been laid.

So this was uncharted territory for me.  And while I've made wonderful friends in the last year, and know that I'm not alone here, I also find myself longing for something more.

It's no mystery to me why I have such a longing.  I left behind wonderful communities in the Seattle-area and in Spokane - well, actually a plethora of mini-communities.  Colleagues at work. Small group. Church. Students. Family.  Friends.  I was blessed to be surrounded by people shared my heart to live in intentional community - to purpose together to live life together.  And, while I have seen people who hold fiercely to their independence and self-sufficiency, I hold fast to my belief that we are meant to live in community.


So then the question comes: how is community formed? Not even just, how will I find community here in Baltimore? But more than that, where do others find it?

I began to keep my eyes peeled for the answer to my question.  And I found community popping up in the most unexpected places.

As I walked downtown last week, I passed a couple of employees taking a smoke break.  I smiled to myself as I realized that I had happened upon two people living life together.  I found myself wondering how long they have been sharing that time together. Months? Years?  I wonder how much life they have processed together, as they share conversation in those few minutes several times a day.   Community.

I marveled today as I rode the bus with a bunch of wet passengers.  There was energy and excitement and joy in our shared, common experience. Normally, we play the game of as-little-eye-contact-as-possible and maintain our solitude, even as another person is standing 4 inches from us.  But not today.  Today we abandon our independence and laugh together at our failed attempts to avoid Mother Nature's fury.  Today we are one and the same: businessmen, teenagers, mothers of three, tourists.   United in laughter as the water drips from our eyelashes.   Community.

I walk past the local laundromat several times a day, as I go to and from school.  Billy, the owner, is usually sitting in his chair outside. He waves "hello" to me, pausing mid-conversation with one of his regulars. How many stories have they exchanged, as they've waited for that final sock to dry?  Here, again, I find people living life together. Community.

Being the nerd that I am, I was curious to know the origin of this word that we throw around in the Christian world, as well as the secular.  As expected, the first part of the word comes from the Latin, cum, which means "with/together."  But I wasn't prepared for what I read next. The second half of the word is derived from the Latin, munus - "gift."

Somehow, there is ingrained in us, the knowledge that we cannot do it alone.   We need each other.  Life is meant to be lived together.   And that togetherness is a gift.   Sometimes it happens in a home around the dinner table.  Sometimes it happens in the alley with a cigarette.    Sometimes it happens in story-telling and laughter.   Sometimes it happens in silence.   But whenever it happens - whenever we stumble upon it, wherever we work to create it - life lived together is a gift.