SS September: Community
When we dreamt about starting a community house we felt strong about certain values or life themes that have become a golden line to us over the years. Rather than guidelines of our community or similar to monastic "rule of life" they are practices that make our spirituality, living our Christian faith sustainable for us.
This is the list of 10 different themes or spiritual practices that we want to deepen in our lives by studying, discussing, researching, applying, making art out of them etc.
1. Practice of community - September
2. Practice of silence and solitude - October
3. Practice of reconciliation, forgiveness and peace - November
4. Practice of gratitude, celebrations and rituals - December
5. Practice of rhythm, seasonal living and rest - January
6. Practice of curiosity, asking question and having honest conversations - February
7. Practice of praying hands, arts and crafts, play - March
8. Practice of gardening - April
9. Practice of simplicity, contentment, minimalism and low-waste - May
10. Practice of charity - June
I personally committed also to share my thoughts on a blog post each month on the monthly practice. The closest my reading gets to this month's practice is a title "The Gift of Wonder" by Christine Aroney-Sine, who like many other Christian writers inspires me with their personal choice to live in a community. Christine and I share the love for arts, nature and creativity in general as a spiritual practice. We both also have a background in working for a denominational Christian missions organization that without an exception embraces community living as a lifestyle. We all probably know (or can imagine) that community life is not easy, yet both Christine and I, after those not always easy years of very intensive community living, chose co-housing.
I have lived in and visited so many community houses and shared housing with strangers who all became friends, family nearly all my adult life. When we decided to start Up-Cycle House we both, Giona and I, had pretty clear ideas about co-housing and keeping an open house. I want to share only a few ideas through some images I've made. Also my sister recommended a book called "Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian in Community" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Image 1. Talking, talking, talking. Everyone needs to say their opinion, preference, idea. Sometimes verbal communication replaces everything else that is between us, and we fail to make a real connection with each other.
Image 2. I like to see in the Bible how Jesus chose to live his life in human body with 12 strangers.
Image 3. It's hard to hear the Other, truly listen. It's even harder to see the Other, even what has never been said. Ultimately that is what we all desire the most: to be seen (for who we are), to be known.