Here's another timely podcast, this one hosted by Naomi Klein, exploring the practice of community in 2020. In a year of isolation and loneliness, as families struggle to love and educate (and work), what might we learn from 'intentional communities'? What might we learn about the democratic experiments that happen when small groups of people share space, create a new kind of home space, together? Maybe this is a conversation we Christians should have joined long ago (and some did). Maybe our witness isn't just a matter of words, but a matter of lifestyle choices, a matter of communal living, a matter of shared resources and decision-making. Sounds kind of Acts 4-like, right?
Need a refresher?
"Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need."
In the podcast, the folks living "intentionally" in Oakland talk about all the work they've done together, organizing their space, building that space, working out daily rhythms and solving weekly problems. Ten years later, they face COVID-19, all the issues around childcare and safety: and it's like they were somehow ready for it, or at least prepared to move into it with grace, confidence and compassion. Community prepared them. Community made them human. And in that human spirit, in that practice, they can face what's in front of them (and all of us) with courage and openness and hope.
It's important to note that the communities referenced here aren't particularly religious, though they are decidedly committed to ecological and social justice values. But isn't this an area the nimble and so-called "progressive" church should explore? Shouldn't we imagine expressions of the church that challenge consumerism, that offer new and faithful patterns of communion and collegiality. Again, kind of like Acts 4. Right?
