COMMUNITY

A few years ago the modern choral music composer Eric Whitacre created a virtual choir online. He recorded himself conducting a piece he composed called 'Lux Aurumque' (Light and Gold) and then uploaded it. Thousands of people recorded themselves singing their various parts (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and uploaded the videos. Then they were assembled in one beautiful, virtual community of a video which was finally uploaded to YouTube. You can watch the video here.

We spend lots of time talking about virtual community (Facebook, etc.) as if it's a false sort of second-rate community. There's no question that there's a qualitative difference between community that takes place in "real" time and in "real" space, but personally I think the jury is still out as to whether virtual community has "real" benefits.

When I graduated from seminary in 2006 many of my closest friends from seminary were sent across the country to serve as pastors in the ELCA in places as far strung as Long Island, San Diego, Spokane and Custer. About 15 of us (including spouses) made a sort of covenant (a fancy theological term that basically means a 'solemn promise') that we would do what we could to stay connected.

In virtual terms, this covenant meant staying connected by a blog, which we could post and respond about our lives both personal and professional as well as joys and concerns. For many of us it has been a means of grace as well as survival in a profession that is not always easy.

In other terms, this covenant meant doing the best we could to come together for one week always around the 4th of July. All in good fun, we gave ourselves a name and a flag. We drew names out of a hat to see who would host each year. We figured out how we would divide up housing and food expenses (both the cost of a many-bedroom house and also food cooked for many can be surprisingly inexpensive) as well as how we'd divide up cooking and cleanup.

This year marked our seventh gathering since seminary. As is always the case with community (virtual or otherwise) it hasn't always been easy. We've learned things about ourselves and our friends - both the good and the challenging. And we've grown quite a bit since the first year when there was only one child - now there are nine children varying in ages from 6 years to less than two months!

Through it all this community of friends has been a source of support, comfort and challenge for me as a pastor and as a person. For this reason, it's great that this week fell about half way through my sabbatical - a sort of mishmash of work and pleasure, friends and family, worship and relaxing… in a word - community.