Community - AHB

One aspect of Christianity that has always intrigued me is the communal nature of religious orders. In a small way we have experienced what that is like this semester. Living, working, eating, and playing with the same small group of people everyday is a challenging experience, but it also forces personal growth in unique ways.

Through my studies of the 18th century Moravian Church in Herrnhut, Germany that grew out of the teachings of Jan Hus, I've been deeply impressed by the sense of community and the way that they worked through vast personal differences by focusing on the singularity of their devotion for God. There was a long period of division within the church, much like what we saw in Babette's Feast, but a single event reunited the entire community and filled everyone with love for their neighbor. I don't believe that these kinds of events are exactly unique to Christianity, but I do think it is important to recognize that events like these are rare but extremely important.

The decline of church attendance is one of the factors pointed to for the lack of community in the United States. Even while we were traveling throughout Europe I was struck by the way that Catholicism transcends all other distinctions. In Notre Dame Justin and I heard part of a mass given by a black priest to a congregation that probably contained a dozen different ethnic groups.

I often take issue with the lack of authentic love within the modern church, but there are times when it shows an example that I think everyone can learn from.