A monthly communication from the Supportive Ministries Team of the Wisconsin Conference to invite conversation about the Church’s “big” call to create communities of belonging who serve the greater good. | |
The Discipline of Being in Community | |
“Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.” (Luke 6: 12-19)
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Often when we think about “community,” we become overwhelmed by the amount of time and energy that is required to be and stay in community. When we consider all the social justice causes that need our assistance, we often ask the question “When will I have time for myself?” It must have been the way Jesus felt when he came down from his prayer time and came upon this crowd of people. But in the book “Community,” Henry Nouwen says that is not true. In the above passage from Luke, we are given a discipline as to how we can be in community and still take care of ourselves.
Henri Nouwen says of the text from Luke:
“This is a beautiful story that moves from night to morning to afternoon. Jesus spent the night in solitude with God. In the morning, he gathered his apostles around him and formed community. In the afternoon, with his apostles, he went out and preached the Word and healed the sick. Jesus models a process for experiencing community and self-care with a discipline of being with God in solitude; creating a fellowship, a community with whom the mission is being lived (his apostles); and finally going out together to heal and to proclaim the good news.”
Our Supportive Ministries team can identify with this discipline as we experienced community through the time of COVID and now in the post-COVID period.
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Members of this team each spend a rich solitude time with God, through prayer, worship, reading, attending webinars and otherwise learning to know ourselves better in relationship to God.
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We gather together as a community, once a month, on a regular basis, during which time we share a devotion and our thoughts, joys, concerns and learnings.
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We come together with a common purpose. We decided to provide thoughts and resources for caring for our souls - “Tending the Soul,” “Renewing the Soul” and now “Nurturing the Soul.”
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Once reconnected, we worked together on our ministry by sharing this monthly newsletter and a monthly Zoom gathering for anyone who wants to reflect on what we have to offer in our publications.
Solitude, Community and Ministry. Without solitude and ministry – either community does not exist or if it does, it often becomes a burden.
According to “Lifespan.org 2023” we have learned that since COVID 19 pandemic we have moved into a loneliness pandemic. We know, too, that loneliness can lead to depression and anxiety. (This has probably the increased interest in the WISE initiative of the Wisconsin Conference UCC.) Even before COVID-19, one out of two people in the United States reported experiencing loneliness. Those ages 18 to 24, are feeling it even more—almost eight out of 10 people in this age range reported feeling lonely. Rapid social change and increased dependence on technology and social media, resulting in decreased in-person interaction and relationship intimacy, appears to be the cause of the increase of loneliness. In her book “The Long Loneliness,” the Catholic social justice leader Dorothy Day says that the social answer to long loneliness is community.
Nouwen would probably disagree that community is the antidote to loneliness. Instead he would say: Solitude, the first step in experiencing community, is to spend time with God, and when we are with God we are not alone and cannot be lonely. But, couldn’t community address both? Dealing with loneliness, which was present in our culture before COVID made it worse, we can experience community both as an antidote to loneliness and a time for being alone with God.
As we move out of the time of COVID and begin to try to re-create or maybe create community for the first time, may we remember that solitude with God is the first step in moving forward into community and that this can serve as a way to heal the loneliness that pervades our culture and bring about justice in a hurting world.
Questions:
- Does the experience of community that Henri Nouwen observed in Luke 6 resonate with you? Why or why not?
- Why do you think that being in solitude with God is an important part of the discipline of being in community?
- How do you experience “being with God in solitude?”
- What seeds can we sow to grow organizations (church, group, etc.) so that they experience community?
Resources:
Nouwen, Henri, Stephen Lazarus, Stephen, Community, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 10545, 2021.
Day, Dorothy, The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist, Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1952.
WISE (Welcoming, Inclusive, Supportive, Engaged) UCC Mental Health Network, Wisconsin Conference UCC, lhart@wcucc.org.
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Join the Discussion: The Discipline of Being in Community | |
The Supportive Ministries Team hosts a monthly discussion on topics from this newsletter. The next one, "The Discipline of Being in Community" takes place on Nov. 1 at 12:00 p.m. Central time on Zoom.
Please join us for a discussion on Community, from Cathy Wille's article above.
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Missed these articles?
Revisit these thought-provoking articles from previous issues. Many include questions for groups discussions in your congregation, or for personal reflection.
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Conference Supportive Ministries
In addition to the direct support to pastors and congregations provided by Wisconsin Conference staff, here are some of the supportive ministries congregations can take advantage of. Follow the link below to learn more about this programs and how your church might benefit.
- Conflict Transformation
- Coaching Partners
- Grants and assistance programs
- Communities of Practice for Clergy or Faith Formation
- Appreciative Inquiry
- 5 Practices of Fruitful Congregations
- Readiness 360
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Supportive Ministries Task Force
Through this communication, the Wisconsin Conference Supportive Ministries Task Force provides articles, discussion guides and other resources for clergy and congregations on coping and thriving as we navigate the current turbulent waters. Supportive Ministries Task Force members from top left are Bob Ullman, Lisa Hart, Bonnie Andrews, Cathleen Wille and Tim Perkins.
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