My views on community have taken a turn. As a novelty seeker brain chemistry-wise, I’ve spent my adult life trying to practice faithfulness and constancy. Yet then I have a tendency to be inflexible, taking on commitments only if I can foresee them bringing about some long-lasting return. I now embrace what you said about how projects and institutions don’t have to last if the people involved have received something lasting.
It’s that strategic kind of mind you have that we were talking about the other day. I can see how that could turn you totally Machiavellian if you let it run amok, but when it’s redeemed by Christ it’s a valuable asset in the church where people tend to be naive to a fault.
But anyway, yes, with community, I think being flexible is the only way to go. It’s all so unpredictable.
There's a book about this that really inspired me early on in my "community building" called "The School That Escaped the Nazis" about a teacher who moved her students all over to escape prejudices against both Jews and Germans. When she died she had no successor by choice, but allowed her school to die with her. Her students were forever impacted by her example though. I feel like this book is the perfect balancing argument to my Plough essay "Irreplaceble" about not making yourself so important that your community can't continue on without you. Whatever we do we must do it with open hands, with generosity and humility, so that it's not about us or our legacy, but about things that matter and last longer!
I love this post of ideas you've put together. Mills essay on how she hosted from her home was a fantastic read.
Ooh, I’ll have to find that book. I enjoyed your Plough essay, by the way. I think that wider, more long-sighted vision of one’s work is the hallmark of maturity—as is working alongside others. But it doesn’t come easy to me. With a professor dad and a piano performer mother, my whole life I’ve absorbed the model of working alone. It’s cool to watch people like you who seem further ahead in that realm.
These are all excellent ideas. I'm seriously thinking about reaching out to a few writers I admire and seeing if they want to combine efforts into a collaborative blog or newsletter. Also, I got my copy of Ithaca Luminaria in the mail a while ago; I haven't started reading it yet (always so many things to read) but it looks great!
Writing in community has been a value of mine because I believe we can only reflect God’s beauty in community, but it can still be challenging to find tangible ways to practice it. I have two toddlers and live physically removed from any of the writers I know. I’m praying for more ways to build that community in 2025.
My views on community have taken a turn. As a novelty seeker brain chemistry-wise, I’ve spent my adult life trying to practice faithfulness and constancy. Yet then I have a tendency to be inflexible, taking on commitments only if I can foresee them bringing about some long-lasting return. I now embrace what you said about how projects and institutions don’t have to last if the people involved have received something lasting.
It’s that strategic kind of mind you have that we were talking about the other day. I can see how that could turn you totally Machiavellian if you let it run amok, but when it’s redeemed by Christ it’s a valuable asset in the church where people tend to be naive to a fault.
But anyway, yes, with community, I think being flexible is the only way to go. It’s all so unpredictable.
Law school and marrying a cynic made the Machiavellianism way worse, lol
There's a book about this that really inspired me early on in my "community building" called "The School That Escaped the Nazis" about a teacher who moved her students all over to escape prejudices against both Jews and Germans. When she died she had no successor by choice, but allowed her school to die with her. Her students were forever impacted by her example though. I feel like this book is the perfect balancing argument to my Plough essay "Irreplaceble" about not making yourself so important that your community can't continue on without you. Whatever we do we must do it with open hands, with generosity and humility, so that it's not about us or our legacy, but about things that matter and last longer!
I love this post of ideas you've put together. Mills essay on how she hosted from her home was a fantastic read.
Ooh, I’ll have to find that book. I enjoyed your Plough essay, by the way. I think that wider, more long-sighted vision of one’s work is the hallmark of maturity—as is working alongside others. But it doesn’t come easy to me. With a professor dad and a piano performer mother, my whole life I’ve absorbed the model of working alone. It’s cool to watch people like you who seem further ahead in that realm.
These are all excellent ideas. I'm seriously thinking about reaching out to a few writers I admire and seeing if they want to combine efforts into a collaborative blog or newsletter. Also, I got my copy of Ithaca Luminaria in the mail a while ago; I haven't started reading it yet (always so many things to read) but it looks great!
Writing in community has been a value of mine because I believe we can only reflect God’s beauty in community, but it can still be challenging to find tangible ways to practice it. I have two toddlers and live physically removed from any of the writers I know. I’m praying for more ways to build that community in 2025.