walking each other home

We are all just walking each other home

                             Ram Dass

_______________________

we are in this together

the words echo loosely in the air

spoken by many

we are in this together

we must all get there, together

no one left behind

these words are echoed too in other words

love your neighbor

echoing back is the word, community

St. Benedict was big on community

being  very clear that our spiritual life was to be lived out in community

there is no option to flee to the desert or hole up somewhere.

for we are in this together

community is not easy

ask anyone who lives in a small town

or anyone who belongs to a church, synagogue, mosque, or any faith group

if the group is doing anything of importance at all

whether it be worship or service

disagreements are bound to happen,

other people will annoy you

and you will annoy other people.

and in those moments we so want to run

to either hid, or find that perfect place

where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average,"

and it is easy

but community is not easy

and the path we walk together is neither straight nor smooth

and growth when it happens

comes when we stay in community

stumbling together down that road

the purposeful and the hesitant

the hopeful and the despairing

the strong and the fragile

when we blunder along

bickering and struggling

doing what we always do in community

giving and taking

hurting and healing

doing the deep work of forgiving and reconciling

this is not about piety

this is about love

not loving our neighbors in the abstract

but loving them when they hurt us deeply

and disagree with us about things important and profound

I say it again

It is difficult to love our neighbor

In fact, the command to love our enemies is often easier.

We tend to push enemies away and keep them out of our lives.

It’s easy to love in the abstract, at arm’s length.

It is much harder to love up close where things get messy:

loving our next-door neighbor, whose dog barks incessantly and who won’t do anything about it;

or members of our congregation who don’t see things our way

or just bug us;

or the pastor who is just “wrong”

Well, it’s hard, isn’t it?

But this is community

and this is where we must be people of love

for it is in our neighborhoods, our little towns, our communities of faith

that we learn what it means to be Sacred Children

We need to choose community

We can have faith in isolation, but we will find growth and development in that faith

In community, in a congregation

We can love in the abstract, but it will not truly be loved, until it is lived out

daily, with those whom we cannot avoid

the loss of community

the disintegration of neighborhoods and churches

as we run and hide behind our computers

and walk down the path of life with our faces in our smartphones

is a loss indeed

for we are in this world,

to walk each other home.