Two Examples of Christian Community: by LUCIE KRUPIKOVA

Lucie compares her experiences in two Christian communities: At her volunteer placement, L’Arche (Liverpool) and at home in the JVC Liverpool house.

The Christian community: what does it mean? Do I talk about a necessarily “good” community or sometimes a “bad” one? Once part of a community, do I have to be constantly with my community members or am I allowed time off? For the last year I experienced what it has meant to be a part of the Jesuit Volunteer community (JVC) and also work as an assistant for in The Ark (L`Arche). In the following article I have attempted to give my own answers to the questions posed above.

Firstly: To Be Part of The Community Is A Decision

It is a long-term decision but it also requires a re-commitment to that decision on a daily basis. Sometimes I can feel “now I need to push myself to stay longer with these people, to serve them, to listen to them, to share with them my opinions and at least somehow like them”. But other times I do not feel that it is an effort. I am simply enjoying the “staying, serving, listening, sharing…..etc.” Thanks to God`s grace most of the time I feel very rich, very uplifted, simply loved!

As an example of being part of the community let me tell you about my broken accordion. My parents decided to send me my accordion.

The parcel arrived in due course but the instrument inside was seriously broken. I carried the case home bearing its its weight on my head and hurt my shoulders in the process. It was also raining and I went down with a bad dose of flu. Mariana, Sigita and Alan, people from my community, took pity on me. Alan helped to open the accordion and started looking on the internet for someone to fix it. Mariana and Sigita stayed with me and made me a cup of tea. Next day, they bought me a big mug for more hot tea, because I stayed in bed sick. The story of the accordion continued to grow. The following months lots of people were involved in the repair of the accordion. Sergio our co-ordinator, Steven our community partner and James another co-ordinator were also involved. By Christmas day I had received the repaired instrument and could play carols, using it in the Jesuit chapel. My community shared in my happiness at having my accordion back to play once more.

To be a part of the community is a free-will decision of each person in the community. If one part of this “body” does not want to belong to the body anymore, there starts a long painful separation process. A person can detach themselves or be detached from the community in many ways but while we are still praying for them they are still connected with “the tree of the community”. In this way membership of the community is a two way process between the individual and the rest of the community.

I never say that my community is “bad” or “good”, Because it is a living body. It is very dynamic and it is changes every minute. Many times I have to say to myself: do not judge! We are all trying to live together. It is fragile, it relies on trust and a never-ending attempt to understand or at least accept what I am not able to understand. I can say: “this is rubbish” about some action, opinion or work, but not about a person or the community!

The Community Is Something That Attracts and Welcomes Other People

During the year, after the basis of our community had been built, when we had agreed the rules and established a prayer time together, when we had fun together, watched a lot of movies, played a lot of games, there was still something missing. It was important to be mostly just together, but soon some people appeared who were interested in who we are. Most of them became our very good friends. What is interesting – when somebody got a friend, the others from the community soon met them and also became their friends. The people around see us as one integer and always ask how the rest are doing?

I am going now to focus on Christian (JVC) values in the community and how we put them into practice. Because the Community is a place where it is possible to share, learn and reflect on Christian values.

A Simple Lifestyle n The Community

I have to say, that I still do not understand exactly what this means. What I learned is that it is not just about simple accommodation or simple food or cheap clothes. I used to live and eat much more simply (and that was still more extravagantly than people from the poor countries). It is more about using what I have, what I found, received and made. It is more about “doing” in a sense “creating” rather than consuming. I found out, that we do not need so much to be happy, have fun or have a great time. Let me give you a small example.

One day I mentioned to my community that I had not had a bath for more than 10 years. Some time after, Sigita asked me if I had a free hour. I was quite busy, but followed her. I was surprised when she covered my eyes with a scarf and took me to the bathroom. There was a gentle glow coming from the light of several candles decoratively arranged around the room. Soft fluffy towels were folded ready for use while a selection of fragrant soaps added a touch of luxury to the scene. A gentle perfume suffused the atmosphere, steamy from the hot luscious bath that had been pre-prepared especially for me. My favourite Czech music was playing softly in the background. “Enjoy your bath!” Sigita said. I really did! The next day I wrote to my friends about this example of the simple “love” style.

Social Justice In the Community

When we look at each other as brothers and sisters, all with the same basic needs and rights, when we share troubles from our own countries, it helps me to understand the situation in Liverpool and in the wider world. It has helped me to understand why Sigita was crying for a refugee mother who had to be sent “back”. It helped me to empathise with the old women who is a victim of violence and whom Mariana visits. Also why Alan`s placement, a Methodist church, welcomes people in their bread-making workshop. It also helped me understand Jesus – why He decided to die for all of us – and why one of the most powerful actions that we can do for those without justice is to give them our friendship and prayer.

Spiritual Life in the Community

It is a great gift that I live with people, who understand that I like to pray or even that for me, God exists! We support each other in this way. Once a week someone prepares a prayer for the others. The prayer is always different and provided in an original way. The prayers also reflect what is happening around us. For example: I received a gift that provided the material to make your own “bath bomb”. I decided to use it for my community prayer. One community of the JVC seemed to have some troubles, so we offered this prayer for them. Let me explain. Each of us made an original bath bomb, the size and design of which was up to the individual. One evening we took our bath bomb and as we said a prayer we threw them in to the Mersey. Each one floated differently and our prayer followed them. Other types of praying together included saying the rosary in different languages (with the responses in English) or imaginative prayer etc.

Finally I have to mention my placement at L`Arche community. The chance to work here has been a great gift for me. I work in the weaving room and once a week with the sports group. After a few months I also started a new workshop with a “drama group”, where house assistants, core members and workshop assistants meet together.

In L`Arche there are also houses where assistants and people with learning difficulties live together. I am not part of these houses, but I visit them and have a lot of friends there. What is magical is when the program for those assistants finishes, they still like to return to the communitiy. Many of them continue to work here, because of friendships with disabled persons. They love them even if the work is difficult and after the program – they miss them. L`Arche celebrates festivals and also anniversaries and birthdays for everyone there. One example from many: when Peter, one of the core members turned fifty, all of us dressed in striped clothes because he loves stripes. When one woman died, we planted a rose for her in the garden, while singing a song about her and sharing stories from her life.

This year is special for L`Arche Liverpool, because they are celebrating their 30th birthday. My JVC community joined L`Arche for these celebrations and took part in them. Mariana helped me with a presentation of the drama group (she played part in a fairy tale) and Sigita helped in the prayer of Pentecost. Alan decided to join L`Arche next year as a house assistant.

Some time ago I asked myself the question “What is the Christian community?” but I lacked the necessary experience needed to truly answer it. After a year spent living and working as part of a community I feel that I have gained a basic knowledge of Christian community living although my experiences continue to shape and deepen my understanding all the time. The opportunity to write an article on these experiences has been a wonderful chance for me to reflect on the past year and on how these experiences have culminated in me receiving so much more than I anticipated.

Lucie was a JVC volunteer 2006-7. She volunteered at L’arche’s Liverpool workshops.

Spirituality and JVC – Communal Prayer by STEPHEN HOYLAND

One of the most difficult parts of the JVC year is communal prayer. There are many reasons for this. It might be that one person finds personal prayer difficult or never prays. Perhaps a common way cannot be found which suits all house members with their diverse religious cultures. There is often a reticence around the kind of sharing, which prayer together involves, so that it is easy to let it slip. The absence of communal prayer does not spoil the JVC ethos because the presence of God does not depend entirely upon explicit religious practice, yet if ways of praying together can be found, the community’s life is enhanced and everyone’s JVC experience enriched.

Prayer in common may respond to all of the challenges listed above. Often prayer with others is easier than prayer on one’s own. The community supports the individual. This is not unlike the experience of being unable to study except in a library when surrounded by other people engaged in the same project. The person finding prayer difficult might be pleasantly surprised by how much more it flows in company.

If a JVC member does not really see the point of prayer but is committed to community then so long as the models used are appropriate it can still work.

This brings me on to a discussion of models or ways or praying together which allow people of different traditions to find common ground in a way which is not irksome and awkward. Let’s invent a hypothetical household that might find it difficult to pray together: Martha is a traditional Spanish Catholic who has never heard of Anglicans let alone Evangelicals and is rather shy.
Lucy is an English Evangelical who just loves to share.
Hans is a lapsed Lutheran agnostic hippy with poor English.
Benedict is an English conservative Catholic who changed his name by deed pole after the last papal election and prays the Divine Office in Latin.

OK, the prospects for the kind of communal prayer that is going to last more than one sitting for this spiritually dysfunctional JVC family might be bleak. What are the prospects?

Each person could take their turn at leading a way of praying that suits them individually. This is likely to be embarrassing and unappealing. “Now then, Lucy”, says Benedict, “This is a rosary. . . ” Or imagine Lucy’s face as Hans reaches for the incense sticks and rolls up a ‘peace pipe’. Lucy takes her revenge with her prayer of exorcism as she sings in tongues, hands raised. Martha wonders how quickly she can get back to Spain.

My suggestion, or one possibility, would be different. Each person takes a turn to lead. Music is played, choosing something to which no one objects. You might have a bank of CDs, which everyone can live with. This helps towards stillness. There could follow a period of silence for personal reflection or prayer, but together, in the same space. Then a short reading: something from the leader’s religious tradition or a favorite poem perhaps, but accessible and inoffensive to everyone. Another period of silence in which to reflect or pray follows. Then the leader could formally end the time of prayer/reflection in a suitable way, perhaps by playing some more music for a few minutes and fading it out gently, after which the prayer is over, or with a prayer said by that leader, or the whole group if appropriate. The whole process could take between 30 minutes or an hour. The length should be agreed beforehand. There might be a little sharing on how that was for people. It is a very good way of further building up the community.

Of course, groups might want some prayer aloud, choose to sing, or to do things differently in all sorts of ways, if that suits them. It might be that a community decides to share each other’s traditions. This can be one of the growth points of the JVC year in that different approaches to prayer are shared within the community and each person learns again that God is bigger than one tradition and can come to us in more than one kind of way.

The strength of the model described above is that it could work with any community and perhaps even in extreme cases where there is little common ground yet there remains a desire to be a fully functioning Jesuit Volunteer Community.

Stephen Hoyland is currently on the team at Loyola Hall Spirituality Centre, a Jesuit retreat centre near Liverpool. He is interested in an approach to spirituality that is truly nourishing for individuals and communities and supports the commitment to social justice and simple living. This is one reason why he likes JVC. The other is the joy of contact with the volunteers who embody those core values, and also play football with him