Image Description: A orange paper chain of people holding hands; light shines behind them.
This summer, the Michigan Nones and Dones community is exploring spiritual values and practices, and we’re applying them to commitments of anti-racism. We’re also asking ourselves: As we think about our religious/spiritual upbringing, what did we learn about these values? What do we want to shed? What do we want to retain? What do we want to deepen or take on in a new way?
We recently held a conversation about the spiritual practice of community. We asked, “How is community a spiritual practice?”
With permission, I am sharing our answers.
As a spiritual practice, community is…
1) a set of relationships where we can discuss ideas,
2) a set of relationships that “love us into being,”
3) something we are connected to whether it involves physical gathering or not,
4) something greater than ourselves over time to which we belong,
5) a gift to which we tend and into which we invest,
6) a space in which we can receive and always bring what we have to offer,
7) a discipline that takes work and intention,
8) a relational space where we can lean on each other,
9) a relational space where we are real with each other and can expose our pains,
10) a relational space where we can be ourselves, bring what we can bring, and learn from each other,
11) a space for artistic creation and expression, affinity, bonds, and transformation,
12) a resource space where we can use our gifts, skills, and passions,
13) a place where we are wanted,
14) a web of care where we build kinship and choose each other.
What would you add?
Smuggling Grace 