Philosophy of Community
My work constantly shows me what is essential to the spiritual life. As people face their own frailty, the essence of the good news they most need and want to internalize is that they are not alone, that even when humanly alone, God, in whatever language you put "it," is with them and will not let them go. My role as a minister is to remind them of God’s presence in their midst and of the peace and comfort that comes with that presence. I do this by being present myself with them. In being present together, Jesus’ presence is made manifest. “Whenever two or three are gathered…” Can a church replicate the transformative intimacy of pastoral care? Absolutely. How? By being going back to a more relational, intimate level, replicating the beloved community-building of the earliest church. I am like many of my and the coming generations that find in traditional God-language an innate distance and disconnect when it is imminence and connection we most need and desire. What if we t...