Twenty years ago the word "community" started showing up everywhere and, to be perfectly honest, it annoyed me. It seemed like a fad, and I'm not a fad fan. Maybe that's why it took me twenty years after blogs became a thing before I started writing one.
I was wrong about community. It's important.
You probably know we're in the midst of a loneliness epidemic, and social isolation is as bad for one's health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Yes, we need community.
Wendell Berry describes it this way:
A community is the mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other’s lives. It is the knowledge that people have of each other, their concern for each other, their trust in each other, the freedom with which they come and go among themselves (The Long-Legged House, p. 71).
One of the communities Lisa and I enjoy is our monthly reading group, which we call the Wendell Berry group. That's because we started by reading through all of Berry's fiction, in chronological order, immersing ourselves in his fictional rural town called Port William. We finished the Berry fiction several years ago, but still meet and read and call ourselves the Wendell Berry group even as we chuckle at our obsolete name.
Another of our communities is a little country church, North Valley Friends, which has become more meaningful to us than words can describe. I've been referring to a forthcoming book, An Invitation to Slow, in my recent blog posts, which we dedicate to our church community.
And oh, by the way (how subtle is this?), that book is no longer forthcoming. It was published this week and is starting to make its way to distributors and book stores. We haven't seen our copies yet, and will wait to make a formal announcement until we do, but if you want a head start the book is now available in a few places (1 | 2 | 3).
One of my favorite chapters is called "Slow to Isolate: An Invitation to Community." Consider three reasons why community is important.
Quality of Life
Imagine a pandemic shuts down the world, then people start panic buying toilet paper which causes a major shortage. Store shelves become as bare as... well, I'll let you finish that metaphor.
One of the pastors in our church discovered a supply of toilet paper and announced it on our Very Active church Google group, even offering to deliver it to people's front door. I'm pretty sure procuring toilet paper is not in our pastor's job description, but what a lovely example of community. And it really did help with quality of life amidst 2021 awfulness.
Fast forward to 2024. To tonight, actually, when our community received another Google group email from Brandon, a talented artist and musician who wants to start having music nights, where we gather with our instruments and make music together. I'm not much of a guitar player anymore, but I may show up. Musical excellence isn't the point. At least it won't be if I come.
Quantity of Life
If you are 20 years old today, you will, on average, live another 55 years if you never go to church. But if you're part of a church community and attend regularly, you will live, on average another 62 years. Okay, that's an old study, but a more recent one followed 74,000 female nurses over twenty years and found that weekly attendance at a faith community lowers the risk of death by 26%.
This may seem surprising at first glance, but it's really not when considering the risks of loneliness and social isolation. Researchers at Brigham Young University found that social isolation increases mortality risk by 46% and loneliness (the subjective feeling of isolation) by 52%.
If loneliness and isolation make us more vulnerable to disease and death, then it makes sense that community involvement makes us less vulnerable.
Meaning of Life
Berry describes community as "a mental or spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared." Two members of our Berry reading group are Maureen and Bill, owners of Chapters Books and Coffee in Newberg. Many in our small town have come to know Chapters as "Newberg's Living Room" because of the welcoming environment Maureen and Bill have created. On any given day, one can wander into Chapters and find people sitting with one another having meaningful conversation as they are surrounded by so many great books filled with art, beautiful ideas, and inspiring stories. I imagine sipping on excellent coffee helps, too.
Chapters is just one example, but it's not hard to see that people find meaning here. Newberg's Living Room helps give substance to our lives, and it seems these days we are all looking for a bit more substance, for vital reasons to be alive.
Community does just that. It enlarges our lives, our joy, our capacity to grow and become the people we hope to be.
We end each chapter in An Invitation to Slow with a set of "slow ponderings." Here is one from the chapter on community.
Slow Pondering
Mull over Berry’s words about community as turning on affection, that it is a “mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other’s lives.” How do you feel about defining and limiting the possibilities of another’s life? About others doing that for you? What is frightening about this? What is inviting or appealing?
If you want more information about An Invitation to Slow, we have videos of various lengths describing the book. (1 min | 4 min | 8 min)
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