The Gift ofCommunity

I'm looking forward to being part of a college student retreat out at Mustang Island Conference Center next month with students from around the state. It's somewhat nostalgic for me because I was active in our college campus ministry, called Canterbury, when I attended Southwest Texas in San Marcos (know today as Texas State.) I was recruited by the chaplain when I was carrying my guitar across campus, and their musician had just graduated. 

I still keep up with a number of my Canterbury friends, even though we live across the state and country. In the last century, when I was in college, we would gather every week at St. Mark's, right on the edge of campus for a home cooked meal, worship, and conversation. Sometimes it was just a game night to let our brains rest during finals, sometimes it was learning about contemplative prayer, or having Eucharist with our visiting Bishop. I attended a few retreats with other Canterbury groups, and at one of those we heard from a speaker who introduced the book, What Color is Your Parachute? The book and our presenter taught us some important life lessons, including being aware of the network of people we know when we find ourselves in need, or when we are helping out friends. 

For example, I was hired as the youth minster at Christ Church Cathedral after I graduated form college not because I had job experience planning a budget, managing volunteers, teaching Bible Study, and being a pastor to teens, but because I knew a priest at the Cathedral, and I happened to call him when they were looking for a new youth minster. That priest saw potential in me, and mentored me as I learned to be a youth minister. I landed here in Port Aransas because one summer long ago I worked at Camp Capers and the teacher one week was a priest who later became the bishop of this diocese. Again, it was fortunate timing that I called the bishop when Trinity by the Sea was looking for a priest. That relationship, and having a little courage to ask a Bishop about ministry opportunities in South Texas bore the fruit of a very fulfilling relationship with this church and community. 

What Color is Your Parachute taught us to consider what's going to catch you. It's about remaining aware   of the network of relationships God has set us within. The church word for that network is the Body of Christ. We have been made members of a living community with many parts, but one body. When our world encourages rugged individualism, I take comfort in remembering our corporeal reality. Humans are created to be in community. Our interdependence is not a weakness, it is a blessing, it is a cure for our weakness. Recognizing my vulnerability helps me to appreciate the God given gifts of others, and seek to empower others to share their gifts. 

I am grateful for those college retreats that helped me to think differently about navigating my working adult world. I hope to support the college students and young adults on next week's retreat as they move into the first season of adulthood. While I certainly hope the retreat supports each of them and nurtures their souls, I also hope they see that the wider community, the Body of Christ (on earth as well as the cloud of witnesses beyond) will support them along their way.