Invitation to the Work-Weary 
Soul in Community

Recently I did a focus group with 20-somethings and asked how they perceived the difference between "religion" and "spirituality." Under spirituality, they listed "inclusive, accessible, free, out-doors and creative." For them, spirituality was energizing and important, an antidote for their work-weariness. You can probably guess the list associated with religion: "exclusive, doctrinal, judgmental, confining and repetitive." It made me tired just to listen!

The surprise for me was that all of them mentioned some form of community or sense of family in connection with religion and while none claimed association with a church, each of them spoke of their desire for a spiritual community.

As I probed the issue of relationships, I stumbled on a deeper truth. These attractive young adults knew that religious life entailed some kind of commitment for long-term acceptance of others who are unlike ourselves! They all had overseas experience and genuinely liked being with people of other cultures even in difficult circumstances, but when it came to claiming "my people" or "my friends," they weren't ready to give up any freedom of choice about time, money or friends. They didn't want a religious community where they would feel forced to love the odd, the strange and the outcast as Jesus did. Also they did not want the hypocrisy of claiming Christ, but not living well.

All of these young people admitted to being work-weary. Their jobs were time-consuming, if not life-consuming. They wanted something more without giving up the freedom of movement which they cherished. They wanted community without the cost.

None had discovered a satisfactory balance between self and others and while I'm not so sure that I have either, I catch glimpses of it at worship, or on retreat or in classes in our School of Christian Living. I believe that the right community can help us make choices about time, energy and money which come from a deeper spiritual source, where words become flesh and we wrestle with acting for the common good.

In this issue of Faith@Work, you will find stories of people who have dared to make some commitment to a flawed community of human beings because God promised we could become a body of Christ that way. Among our regular writers, Dick Meyer celebrates the positives of community and Doug Wysockey-Johnson has a helpful column on learning to love our enemies. Other writers provide a range of stories about wrestling with organic community, mutual relationships, surprising connections and claiming God in a chaotic world.

On page 23 you will find the citation for an honorary doctorate which Virginia Theological Seminary conferred on me this spring. At our spring meeting, the Board of FAW directed us to put it in the magazine. I wanted to let you know, but my Calvinist heritage would probably have kept it out. It took my FAW friends to help me celebrate!

As Genesis says, we are not created to be alone. We are created for relationships with each other and with God. We are the "word made flesh" in our own time. May God continue to give us the gift of community and connection through Faith At Work as we greet the next millennium.

Marjory Bankson is president of Faith at Work and is a member of The Seekers Church, an offspring of Church of the Saviour in Washington DC.

Faith at Work is establishing a new website, Call To The Soul, focusing upon the journey of call.