Community, Faith, and Government: Where Do We Go from Here?

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

If you are an American, did you feel this past week like you were climbing a chain link fence trying to cut through vicious razor wire just to feel free as a citizen of democracy while congress whittled away at that democracy? If you belong to a religious denomination, did you feel your church slipping away from its moorings through divisions becoming evident and maybe causing a schism? If you are part of a caring community, did the joy of that caring get you through all the other disappointments that power and its control leverage over you? Let’s look at all this carefully.

Last week I experienced the grace and joy that community love can offer– numbing the pain of the otherwise parts of life mentioned above. We Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati gathered, along with our 200 lay associate members of men and women, for the annual fall meeting. But this annual meeting was different. We were celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the establishment of our Associate Program in which members commit themselves to a dedication to the charism of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the spirituality of the Sisters of Charity. Associates serve in various ministries throughout the country while still holding on to their careers and their family responsibilities. They are remarkable for their enthusiasm and their desire to be part of our community. They model the life all faith members have or should have for a Beloved Community, no matter the faith or society to which one belongs.

‘Beloved community’ is not a casual term. It is rooted in biblical literature most decidedly in the Gospels where Jesus instructs disciples to “be of one mind,” and it can be found in the Hebrew Scriptures as well. Two Narratives in the Christian Scriptures that come to mind are Matthew 17:20, and Paul’s letter to the Romans 12: 9-21. You can find other sources in the Christian Scriptures readily. 

The term became the verbal icon for the Center for Applied Nonviolence

founded by Rep. John Lewis and Martin Luther King. Lewis served in congress for thirteen terms and died recently after a life of total dedication to non-violence and the cause for equal rights. Lewis is a saint in my canon of personal saints. Because he believed that “politics and religion are inseparable,” he became a follower of the Social Gospel Movement before the Civil Rights Bill was passed; he was arrested 40 times and beaten nearly to death several times. He worked with Martin Luther King and coordinated countless marches for civil rights. Throughout his life, Lewis wrote about and taught the concept of the Beloved Community. “Consider those two words,” he asked. ‘Beloved’ means not hateful, not violent, not polarized, not separated, not locked in struggle.” He added “You live as if you’re already there, that you’re already in that community, part of that sense of one family, one house. You visualize it, if you can even have faith that it’s there, for you it is already there.” He added, “The Beloved Community is a state of heart and mind…that transcends all boundaries and barriers and embraces all creation. At its core, it is an engine of reconciliation.”

In nearly every explanation of the Beloved Community as belonging to both religious and civic teaching, the term requires that believers ‘build such a community.’ A Beloved Community does not simply appear, nor is it a mandate. It requires what Lewis said repeatedly: it requires walking with others. Not firing at them or arguing with them, not pillaging their property, or destroying their homes. When someone is arrested or threatened, the Beloved Community must break into songs like “Will the Circle be Unbroken,” and “We Shall Overcome.” It requires walking arm-in-arm. It requires absolute non-violence. We build Beloved Communities this way.

Reflection

When I experienced our associates with us this past weekend, it struck me that we sisters and associates are building the Beloved Community. Where each of us serves others, we are all there. Our religious dedication reaches people all over the country because we are building the Beloved Community by walking together where Charity calls us. In some ways, however the Spirit inspires us, we need to address as a Beloved Community, the default and manipulation of our government and our churches who can and must become Beloved Communities as well for the sake of the justice and equality eroding among us.

This insight was not lost on the editor of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Chris Quinn who wrote that the upheaval of Cleveland’s Roman Catholics against the diocese’s recent policy on gender issues has been communicated with care and respect by many believers—something that Congress could learn from us. It can be done. We can disagree but express it non-violently. We can build a Beloved Community no matter what our role is in life.

This week, we might find it helpful to reflect on how we are building the Beloved Community in our parish, our city or even our families. It is distressing and, I believe, unkind, to prevent honest and insightful conversation when we warn people that “We don’t talk politics here.”

In other words, I anticipate that your thoughts are intolerable or not valuable because they are not like mine. Let’s work some kindness here and try to accept each other as we build a Beloved Community.

I know all of you are praying for reconciliation among our government leaders. Remember, dear readers and my Anonymous Angels, “We walk by faith…”