On becoming community

Something quite interesting happened today. Well, it wasn't earth-shattering, I suppose, but it struck me by surprise and gave me a great burst of encouragement about what my time here at Yale will be about, at least in part. I had my first Annand group meeting this afternoon. The Annand Program for Spiritual Formation is sponsored by Berkeley Divinity School for the spiritual nurturing of divinity students here, both Berkeley and Yale. Spiritual direction is available (and required for middlers and seniors) and small group direction is highly recommended for juniors (first years like me).

So today was the first session of my small group. There were 9 people including myself and our facilitator, a former Roman Catholic UCC pastor (try figuring that one out). I knew all but one person in the group. Now mind you, classes haven't even been in session for three weeks. Some of us have been around campus for four weeks counting orientation. As each of us trickled in, we chatted and conversed and joked around and made fun of each other (where necessary). I watched the face of the facilitator, who seemed both shocked and amused that we already had formed something of a community.

And then it hit me - we had become a community! Somehow, we already knew each other well enough to know each other's foibles and personal characteristics well enough to laugh comfortably about them, all with an understanding of mutual love and support. How did this happen so quickly?

My first thought focused on how groups who have undergone some kind of trauma share an unshakable bond with each other. Okay, maybe trauma is a bit strong, but we have all come here from other lives, many having made great sacrifices to do so, and are faced with a rigorous academic program while at the same time trying to keep some sense of our spiritual moorings. And that, I believe, is where this community originated. We are all in an unfamiliar and sometimes scary place all because of our love for God and our feeble attempts at doing what our God would have us do.

It reminds me of an old hymn whose origin I can't recall that proclaims that we are one in the bond of love. I do love and admire and respect each of the persons in my Annand group, and, by extension, all the other pilgrims who have washed up on this distant shore in New Haven, perhaps still baffled and bewildered about how it all came about. But we are here, and we are together, and we are one. Thanks be to God.