Wednesday, December 04, 2002
I don't know why I'm surprised that Merton has so much to say about community. You'd think I would understand, knowing that he lived in community, a closer community than even Kevin and his bunch do. What I do know is that this book is firing me up with enthusiasm about VBCC and with a desire to have God bring us even closer together. I still think I'd like to live in a communal setting. I used to say often that I'd like to try communal living as an experiment, but I think I'm beginning to understand that that's kinda like saying I'd like to experiment with being married--it's not something you can go into with the idea of, "well, if it doesn't work out, I'll just move out"--not successfully, anyway. Well, I'm not sure I meant to say that much; I really just wanted to post another quote from the book, so here it is:
"Community will grow if we let it be more natural and spontaneous, because the kingdom of heaven is like yeast. The yeast that comes to us most spontaneously is natural friendship. The grace of God is with us and we just need to let it work. But we're slow to believe this."