A Cabin in the Woods, and Other Updates

Our house church is taking a retreat to a cabin in Eureka Springs, Arkansas on the weekend of October 19.

We began preparing for the retreat in earnest a few weeks ago. At the time, we noticed that there were forty days between when we started preparing for the retreat and the retreat itself. There will also be forty days between the retreat weekend and the start of Advent, December 2.

I’m not trying to sound like the author of Matthew or anything, but the timing of the retreat does strike me as significant, especially for the purposes of spiritual formation. Forty day incriminates are perfect for establishing rhythms, for reflection, and for intentionally trying new things. For example, I have started journaling again. By the time the retreat gets here, I will have been at it for forty days.

The six of us are each going into the retreat with a distinct goal in mind. For example, some of us hope to produce a strategic plan document for our life, some of us hope to gain clarity on that elusive question, “What do I really want in life?” And some of us are aiming for an even more elusive goal: relaxation.

We have complied a few tools to help us meet our various goals. These tools mainly focus on heightening our self awareness. They include:

•     our detailed Meyers-Briggs profile. (Get questionnaire here.)
•     a reading from the popular book, Strengths Finder
•     The Five Question Exercise
•     Community Values activity
•     Twenty Statement Test (TST) asking the question, Who Am I?
•     Personal inventory emails, from the book Practicing the Way of Jesus
•     The retreat itself!

Our house church meets on Wednesdays. Generally we cook and eat together, do common prayer together, and talk/discuss/hang out together. It has been fun working together to plan this retreat. I think we are all looking forward to it in one way or another.

It is wonderful to have such a great community of people, and such a great rhythm of community, as part of our lives.

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Modifying the Twelve Marks

Revisiting the Twelve Marks

The book Schools for Conversion: Twelve Marks of a New Monasticism is a collection of essays about new monastic intentional communities. This book had a foundational role in the development of my understanding of intentional communities. (If you are not familiar with the twelve marks, see appendix A at the end of this post.)

The book suffers somewhat from being written and edited by a committee. It reads like a mix between a textbook and a really cumbersome mission statement—the kind of statement you get when constituents try to incorporate every relevant noun and verb into their clauses.

But despite its sprawling scope and fractured style, the book is indispensable for anyone interested in new monasticism because of the ideas, experiences, and passions that the various authors communicate. It is an ambitious book. The authors were seeking to give some form to the new monastic social movement, and I would say they succeeded.  I found the book to be both interesting and inspiring, and I own a debt to the authors for the ideas and vocabulary they supplied.

– – –

Modifying the Twelve Marks

while all new monastic communities are intentional communities, not all intentional communities are new monastic. New monasticism is a fairly specific enterprise (as evidenced by the long list of “marks.”)

Having researched and been immersed in intentional community for a year or so now, I find that I identify with some of the marks more than others. While new monasticism resonates with me, I would not describe myself as a new monastic.

I have taken the liberty of revising the list of twelve marks. I have shortened it down to six. Of the twelve marks put forward by the book, these six resonate with me the most and reflect my take on intentional community.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say. I get the feeling that the authors intended their work to be viewed as a starting point, not as a set-in-stone handbook or a sacred text. As such, I am gratefully using it as a springboard. Here is my shortened list.

– – –

The six most important marks of intentional community in my view:

(I define intentional community as a group of people who are gathered around a common goal, vision, or set of values, and that is characterized by the following marks.)

1. Nurturing common life among members of intentional community. (cf. mark #7)
   – shared rhythms such as meals
   – high degree of teamwork among members
   – egalitarianism
2. geographical proximity. (9)
3. Commitment to positive communication, conflict resolution, and peacemaking. (11)
   – self awareness
   – group decision making processes
4. Environmental consciousness and prioritization of the local economy. (10)
   – gardening
   – sustainability
   – farmers markets
   – product choices
5. Spiritual participation together. (6 & 12)
   – common prayer
   – sabbath
   – celebration
   – hospitality to the stranger
6. Sharing. (2)
   – often some form of common purse
   – sharing resources and/or expenses

– – –

The Marks I didn’t Keep

This exercise has helped me examine my own working definition of intentional community. [keyword: “working.” I am more interested in practice than theory here. I want to examine what we actually do.]

I do not disagree with any of the twelve marks per se. I excluded certain marks simply because they are not central to my particular vision of what intentional community is. For example, the mark relating to single people and married people (8) seems unnecessary. While a very important topic, I ultimately take it for granted that we don’t discriminate on the basis of marital status.

I do not currently share an interest in locating to “abandoned places of empire (1)” and, while hospitality (3) is very important, for me it falls under spiritual disciplines and therefore is not its own mark.

I did not include the marks that pertained specifically to monastic spirituality (such as the “disciplined contemplative life (12),” “way of Christ,” and “rule of life (6),” etc.) or specifically to the church (“racial division within the church (4),” “humble submission to the church (5),” etc.) because I am not a member of a monastic community or a church community, though I do find monasticism and the church to be sources of great inspiration.

I also find new monasticism, as well as Twelve Marks, to be an important source of inspiration as I continue to try to live out my adventure in togetherness.

– – –

Appendix A: Twelve Marks of a New Monasticism, Table of contents

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“A Place for Sabbath Feast”

Living the Sabbath: Discovering the Rhythms of Rest and Delight (Norman Wirzba, 2006) is the most down-to-earth book on sabbath I have found so far. It is part of the Christian Practice of Everyday Life series.

The book has two parts. The first, called Setting a Sabbath Context, contains such chapters as The Practice of Delight and The Decline of Delight. The second part is called The Sabbath in Practical Context and contains such chapters as Work and the Sabbath, Sabbath at Home, and Sabbath Environmentalism.

Below I have included a quote from the chapter Sabbath at Home. In it, the author builds a compelling case for community “focal practices,” which among other things is a great bit of terminology. Less confusing-sounding than charism, less committal that mission, less clunky than core value. The paragraph captures my own feelings on Sabbath perfectly.

A Place for Sabbath Feast:

“For Sabbath people, it will not be enough simply to resist cultural forms and expectations. We also need to develop positive practices that will draw us closer to each other. Albert Borgmann has wisely suggested that homes and communities recover what he calls “focal practices;” the set of personal and communal habits that bring people into regular and sympathetic face-to-face contact. In our time of hyperreality, when relationships are increasingly mediated by technological gadgets and automobiles, and when speed overwhelms our capacity for attention and patience,  a focal practice compels us to take stock of how we live from and through each other. These are practices like neighborhood Little League and a community orchestra, activities that bring us into closer contact with each other so that we can directly see how we need and benefit each other and thus really ought to make more time to celebrate and enjoy what we live together.”

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The FEC: Part 1

Each of us here at Formation House are presenting seminars to the rest of the group on the topics of our choice. So far, Amber has presented on the Liturgical Year, Scott has presented on Conflict in Community, Dave has presented on his and Karen’s recent visit to Reba Place, and I have presented on the Federation of Egalitarian Communities.

My goal was to get a feel for the whole North American Intentional Community landscape, but that topic was way too broad. In my research I found the FEC, an interesting (but manageably-sized) federation of secular intentional communities. A condensed version of my presentation is below.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Part I: An Overview of the FEC

Intro:

The FEC is a network of communal groups across North America. The communities range from small agricultural homesteads to village-like communities to urban group houses.

The FEC provides access to a catastrophic health care fund, called PEACH, a Labor Exchange program, called LEX, and support for recruitment and outreach.

Principles/Values

• Holds resources in common.
• Assumes responsibility for the needs of its members.
• Practices non-violence.
• Uses a form of decision making in which members have an equal opportunity to participate.
• Actively works to establish the equality of all people.
• Acts to conserve natural resources for present and future.
• Creates processes for group communication.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Part II:

Next Post: Full Member Communities

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The FEC: Part 2

Acorn Community Farm

• Population: 24 adults
• Founded: 1993
• 72 acres in rural Virginia
• “A community of work and play, and distributing rare heirloom seed varieties.”

“We are interested in meeting people experienced in community-building, communication and facilitation, and interested in building a dynamic, supportive social culture.”

Twin Oaks

• Population: 90 adults, 13 children
• Founded: 1967
• 400 acres in rural Virginia
• A long-term, stable community based on rich culture and diverse economy.

Twin Oaks is the oldest and largest of the Federation communities. It was originally founded by a group inspired by B. F. Skinner’s fictional book Walden Two.

East Wind Community

• Population: 65 adults, 11 children
• Founded: 1973
• 1,045 acers in rural Missouri
• Doing things ourselves, individual freedom, stewarding our beautiful land.

What does East Wind Community do with 1,045 acres? They have a garden, a 1/8 acre herb garden, a 1.5 acre orchard, a 140 acre ranch, and 850 acres of oak and hickory forest.

Sandhill Farm

• Population: 7 adults, 1 child, 1 toddler
• Founded: 1974
• 135 acres in rural Missouri
• “Organic homestead & child-friendly family of friends with current openings for new members.”

Sandhill produces a big sorghum crop every year. “Not only is sorghum syrup our biggest agricultural income source, it’s also one of our main social events of the year.”

Skyhouse/Dancing Rabbit

• Population: 3 adults
• Founded: 1997
• 280 acres in rural Missouri
• “An income-sharing group within a larger ecovillage, dedicated to sustainability.”

The principal mission of Skyhouse is to support and nurture its membership… Another important Skyhouse goal is to support the development of Dancing Rabbit in whatever way possible.

Emma Goldman Finishing School

• Population: 10 adults
• Founded: 1996
• Urban Seattle
• “A social justice commune in the heart of Seattle.”

“Our community is based on the principles of societal change, egalitarianism, non-violence, ecology, simplicity, and community living.”

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Intentional Community Book List (UPDATED)

We started this list one year ago, so it is time for an update. People have been sending in their recommendations for “must read” books about community. Your contribution is still needed!

• permaculture
• simple living
• social issues
• business and legal
• classics
• monastic
• new monasticism
• spiritual practices
• philosophy/ethics
• community how-to

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A Sabbath Resolve

Living in community is a good way to learn about oneself. The Formation House curriculum, the Strengths and Values Small Group we participated in, and the general rock tumbler/fish bowl nature of intentional community have all afforded me many opportunities for self-reflection.

This year I have identified something that I am excited to focus on in the future. This thing will inform the rhythms I will seek to create for myself.

Sabbath is just a pause. It is a time to reflect, gather, celebrate, and prepare for the meaningful work ahead. It does not have to be a whole day, and it does not even have to be called “sabbath.”

While the concept of sabbath is counterculture, I know from practicing Sabbath with Amber (we started out celebrating it quarterly and now we celebrate it once a month) that Sabbath observation is a life-giving practice for me and is relatively easy to implement.

* * * * *

Moreover, I think Sabbath would make a good charism for a community.

Whether you call it a charism, focus, mission, core value, purpose, emphasis, or just “thing we do,” every community needs one sooner or later. Like a tent pole, a charism helps to give definition and form to community without being too ridged. It informs the rhythms a community will seek to establish and lays the groundwork for long-term cohesion.

Often, a community’s charisms emerge from the talents, values, and desires of its members. In fact, individuals often have charisms just as communities do.

Here at Formation House, we have been holding meetings to discuss what the members want to focus on next year. Someone voiced the desire to simply have more opportunities to spend time together.

Ironically, while community life is about more than doing the grocery shopping and figuring out an equitable way to do housework, it has been precisely those things that have taken up the bulk of our community time and energy—at the expense of hanging out and/or doing any number of other things together.

In this context, it is clear that a community must be thoughtful about what it wants its charism to be.

* * * * *

Having Sabbath as a charism makes a lot of sense for a community. Celebration is a perfect focal point for people to gather around. It is also a minimalistic charism in that it leaves lots of room for other charisms to grow.

Sabbath could be any day of the week (it does not have to be Sunday) and it could be as frequently or as occasionally as desired. It could be a neighborhood badminton tournament in the backyard. It could be dinner and a movie. It could be a planned day with no chores/obligations. It could be baking a cake just to celebrate life.

Again, to me Sabbath is a time to reflect, gather, celebrate, and prepare for the meaningful work ahead. Reflecting, gathering, celebrating and preparing does not happen on its own. That is why I am excited to practice Sabbath in my personal life and to promote it to anyone who will listen.

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Consensus Decisions

We are getting ready to cover consensus based-decision making in our curriculum at Formation House.

I have noticed something about the topics we have been studying this year: most of them are completely counter-intuitive.

Consensus based decision-making is a good example of this. The prescribed way of forming consensus is through actively seeking dissent.

Weird, huh?

Matt Pritchard says of community decision-making: “While [consensus decision making] is great in principle, most people have little experience or training in consensus decision making, and it shows: bad behavior reigns supreme and meetings drone on forever as small decisions are discussed ad nauseam.”(Pritchard, 2010)

Consensus based decision-making can be contrasted with majority rule. The two methods of decision-making have similarities. However, in majority rule, the 51 percent (or the three quarters, or whatever the majority is defined as) simply makes the decision while everyone else is out of luck. It’s not necessarily that those in the minority are wrong, it’s just that they’re out of luck. By contract, consensus decision-making seeks not only the agreement of most participants but also the resolution of minority objections. Like majority rule, consensus decision-making has a whole body of ideas, procedures and vocabulary surrounding how it works.

This model differs from what we are used to. For example, most meetings we attend are governed by the Robert’s (hallowed) Rules of Order. Matt’s comment on this is insightful;

“Most governance in organizations is focused on protecting the organization from the people that are of it. Unfortunately, this means that unhealthy organizations are able to hobble along almost indefinitely. Voting enables us to operate without trust.” (Pritchard, 2010)

This is a fair critique. However, I do understand why an organization might want to protect itself from the people who are in it. When I was little, my church went through a split due to a big conflict at the center of which was a pastor. When the dust finally settled, the church promptly revised its bylaws to prevent that kind of thing from ever happening again. It was something analogous to a prenup agreement.

* * *

Voting is easy. Voting is tidy. Those two statements are clues that voting is not the way to govern an intentional community. Things in community are messy. Intentional communities are characterized by high degrees of teamwork among members and by common visions, but not by groupthink or lockstep. Intentional communities are communities of individuals.

I particularly like the idea of being sensitive to dissent, because, frankly, I’m frequently the one who finds himself dissenting, but I’m not always the first one to speak up. And I imagine most of us have had experiences where our opinions were steam-rolled even when we did voice them, whether because the proposition/objection was not shared by others, or it was unconventional and thus rejected out of hand, or simply because people were in too big a hurry to listen.

I am looking forward to learning about this method of decision-making, and talking it over with the community in detail.

Interested in how the rubber meets the road when it comes to this model of decision making? Peruse the Wiki article. It’s our primary text. (Yeah, yeah. No book this time. We’re a community on a budget.)

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Our New Home In Pictures

Please enjoy touring our beautiful new home. Please note that we did not clean the house for this tour, so it is entirely as is – as if you came to see it for yourself. 🙂  If you are interested in seeing us in real life or in sending us delightful care packages filled with your love, let us know!

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Home Is Wherever I’m With You

Hello friends! We are so sorry for the lack of posting of late. I found this post below that was saved but never posted. It’s about two weeks late, but here you go!! I will write another one today that includes pictures! Love to all. Thanks for joining us on this journey!

After four packed U-Haul loads, 5 full mini vans and a few car trips, we have moved. Basically what that looks like is that all of our stuff is out of our old place and inside of the new house. Some things are precariously balanced on top of other items in order to make space for a walkway while we wait to move furniture into a few unfinished rooms. It is not necessarily unpacked or organized or arranged, but it is there. And that, friends, is no small thing. We worked for two days solid moving boxes, books, furniture, shelves, clothes, suitcases, food, cleaning supplies, books, shelves, shoes, more shelves and more books. Last weekend was a bit of a blur of eight people’s belongings being shuffled around in this crazy flurry of activity.

Joyfully, our room is set up. There is so much floor space that I can now do yoga inside the room without hitting anything. We also have a fully functioning kitchen that we have made several meals in. Oh, and get this – we can actually prepare the meal inside the kitchen instead of in the dining room. I fixed dinner yesterday and it was wonderful. Did I mention that our entire basement is going to be a library that has 60 shelves? Yes, 60 shelves of books.

Moving tends to bring out either the best or the worst in people. Fortunately, it brought out more of the former in our group. Please don’t think we are super holy and perfect, because there was plenty of the worst of people shining through at times. But, there was so much grace and love shown this past weekend, and it made me realize how great this group is. Just when one person thought they couldn’t go up another step, someone tells them they are doing a great job. When I thought I was able to carry something and ended up almost dropping it, someone was there to catch it and help. I realize how silly and cliche all of that sounds, but we truly did work as a team. Reason number 390 community is a beautiful way to live.

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