Since we've been here for a little over two weeks now, I thought it would be a good time to post about. . . . what exactly are we doing here? It's a good question. It's one we've asked ourselves several times in the last fourteen days. Why exactly would two people with well-paying jobs and a community of friends and loved ones around them pack up everything and move 1,200 miles away? Where it's cold? What exactly are we hoping to get out of this experience?
To tell our journey of how we got here, I need to back up a few years to Dec. 2007. That's when Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President came to Harding to speak. (If you haven't read these books and you're up for being challenged in your faith, READ THEM. Totally life-changing). He is a part of a movement called New Monasticism. This does not mean that he wears robes and goes around chanting all day. What it does mean is that he and several other people have chosen to live in covenant relationships with one another. Their way of life grew out of friendships with homeless people in their area; they wanted to find a way to be the gospel among them, rather than just a mouthpiece. So, they took up residence together in the midst of their new friends and decided to share all they had so they could meet the needs of others. They called their little experiment The Simple Way, modeled on the Christians in Acts and in quest of the line stating that "there was no needy person among them."
I'm glossing over a lot of things. There is a LOT more involved in the decisions they made and what went into them, the journey that this little community went on (which you can read more about in the book! plug. plug). I share all that to share the background of what got Ryan and I thinking. We were not sure exactly which direction we wanted our lives to take after college and marriage. We were not committed to settling down in any one place, and recoiled at the idea of moving somewhere and devoting ourselves to houses and careers which we were not ready to take on. In his talk, Shane mentioned an organization called Mission Year. Participants would live together in an urban area and seek to know and serve the disenfranchised people who lived in the neighborhood. Their motto: "Love God. Love People. Nothing else matters." We were very interested, applied, got accepted, almost did it. But the program required participants to raise money. Due to our very late decision making (this was in June, we got married in July, the program started in Aug.), we decided that the timing wasn't right. So, we got married and moved to Dallas, but we never lost the desire for a different way to live.
Fast forward a couple years to Feb. 2010. We got news of a conference that was taking place at Harding University, our alma mater, which was all about intentional community (that's the stock phrase for the adventure we've entered into). As soon as I saw event postings on my facebook page advertising it, I knew we had to go. At the conference, we got wind of an opportunity of an organization called Formation House, a year-long training program for people interested in intentional community. This seemed like *exactly* what we'd been looking for. We began the process of applying and looking for jobs in March. There were some major hurdles along the way before we got here, the biggest of them being that the house in which Formation House was going to be, umm, housed, became no longer available for use due to some sneaky zoning laws enforced by some people in the neighborhood. The other couple who was committed to Formation House and living in Pittsburgh quickly set about finding apartments in which we could live and set up shared spaces to do life together. We, by the grace of God, found jobs before we got here, which eased our minds about making such a drastic move. Two weeks ago, we set out in Little Blue (my car), loaded to the max, and drove up the windy mountains in between GA and PA until we arrived at our new home.
Whew, I thought I'd get through all of this in one post, but it looks like this is going to need to be broken up. I'll leave you with another book that you should all read, which explains the purpose and place of intentional communities much better than I ever could.
Very readable, challenging explanation of intentional community; it has thoughts for everyone, even people who have no interest in intentional community itself. (Again, plug, plug!). Thanks for making it all the way through this. Part two coming soon.
Parting shots: Some pictures of us at our new favorite coffee place that is, drumroll please. . . . within walking distance.
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