Community

Chapel of the Martyrs and Witnesses
Past and Present
Canterbury Cathedral

Mention “church” to most people and a vision comes to mind that includes buildings with pews, pulpits, organs, choirs, hymnals, sermons, Sunday school and the like. For others, they may think of Sunday evening suppers or special service projects. Still others may think of an event they attended once or twice that made an impression for good or ill.

When we read the scriptures, one of the earliest words used to describe the church was “ecclesia” – a Greek word that, at its root, means “gathering.” In other words – the roots of the church are in the people that gather – in the relationships that form as people find what they have in common as they focus on their own relationship with Jesus.

Relationships – the core of church. Without that all of the awesome architecture, inspiring poetry and melody can be reduced to passing experience of something transcendent but ultimately impermanent. We can be reminded of that when we pass the ruins of monasteries no longer active, or churchyards long forgotten and untended.

In the Church, these relationships find expression in what we profess each Sunday in the phrase the “communion of the saints.” When we profess our belief in this doctrine we too often think of it as an abstraction – as a way of connecting ourselves to the souls of the past. But it is a very present reality. This came home to me in a very real way in, of all places, Canterbury.

Deirdre Good

As it happened, my planned visit here coincided with a visit of one of my most cherished colleagues from the Stevenson School for Ministry, Dr. Deirdre Good. Deirdre’s mother, now in her mid-90s lives in a care home in the north of Kent, not very far away, and Deirdre was staying in Canterbury during her visit. Once we were both aware of the parallel timing, we quickly planned to meet. On Deirdre’s recommendation, we met outside Christchurch gate and walked to Cote Brassiere a few blocks away. We wiled away the hours in conversation about many things – family, retirement plans, current projects, anything, and everything. It was an absolute delight. The bistro filled and emptied during the time we were there. Finally, the evening came to an end, and we walked as far as we could before we had to separate to go follow our different path again, not sure if we would see each other before we took our leave, each for our respective homes in the US one in Maine the other in Pennsylvania.

Some would say that it was another example of “six degrees of separation” – or connection. I believe, however, that it is an example of the power of community – of shared values – of connection in the Spirit of God. Two souls, connected by a power beyond out understanding that recognize within each other something beyond themselves, a power that transcends space and time, that makes a connection even in a far away land. 

It is the same power that connected those who did not now each other but gathered for Morning Prayer in the chapels of the Cathedral or celebrated Holy Communion in the East Chapel dedicated to the Martyrs and Witnesses of the Past and Present. It is the power of the “communion of the saints” – it is the fellowship of the ring – not a magical ring of gold but a spiritual ring of faith that gathers us together wherever we find ourselves.