Availability and Vulnerability

There are two simple words at the center of the Rule of Life for the Northumbria Community – availability and vulnerability. Since discovering that Rule several years ago, I have tried to live my own life with availability and vulnerability.

Let me backtrack. Many years ago, David found a prayer book developed by the Northumbria Community in England. The Northumbria Community is a geographically dispersed community that has its home on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.  It is shaped by a spirituality based in the history and experience of the Celts. What holds that community together is their Rule of Life, summarized by the values of availability and vulnerability. As Richard Foster states in the introduction of Celtic Daily Prayer:

These are vows that extend both vertically and horizontally: available to God, available to others; vulnerable to God, vulnerable to others.

While I make no claim to be a member of the community, nor have I ever visited there, I have tried to adopt those values into my life, with their challenge and hope. I continually find myself returning to them over and over again, because they seem to be at the core of my struggles to live a life centered on God. This year, I will consciously bring those challenges of availability and vulnerability into this week between Palm Sunday and Easter.

Holy Week was a time when Jesus was fully available to those who needed him, while becoming totally vulnerable to the fear and cruelty of those who controlled the religious and government institutions. In his acts of availability, such as washing the disciple’s feet, Jesus turns around the expectations of his friends by caring for them. In his interactions with those in power, he refuses to return violence for violence, hatred for hatred. During this week, we recall his betrayal by one of his disciples, beatings by soldiers, abandonment by his friends, crucifixion by an oppressive state, and death.

So, in continuing on my Lenten discipline of what if it’s all true, what can I hope to learn from Jesus tragic, and ultimately triumphant, journey? I don’t know. Maybe nothing. But if I can find a way to stay available and vulnerable to reliving his story, I hope to be able embrace those values more fully in the power of resurrection and Easter.  

Reflecting on Community

An important aspect of my Lenten reflection has been focused on evaluating my parish internship experience and looking forward to what a future parish assignment might bring. In light of my formation as a member of Middleham and St. Peter’s for twenty five years, I have come to recognize the most important factor in the church equation for me is community. The two most significant examples of community I’ve ever experienced were through Middleham and St. Peter’s.

The winter of 2009-2010 when my husband had his heart surgery, the support through community that I received was what sustained me during that time of fear, stress, and a complete overhaul of my mindset of Tim’s mortality. The prayers, visits, food, and people staying with him while I was in Baltimore, and not able to be home, are just some of the ways that people poured out their love. The most moving of all was the delivery of a prayer shawl to the hospital just prior to his coming out of surgery, so that when he woke up it was covering him. Knowing that loving hands had made it and so many people had prayed over it gave me great comfort.

The most significant spiritual experience I ever had came through the community that developed among those who served on the search committee as we looked for a new rector, resulting in calling Father David. That group was led by the spirit. Such a strong sense of community was felt among the members, that there is no doubt in my mind that it was God’s will that Father David be among us.

Interestingly, community spirituality is a Biblical concept. The story of Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures is more about the community’s relationship with God than about individual relationship with God. Surely they would have developed a keen sense of community as they wandered through the desert for forty years.

In the New Testament, Paul uses the expression in Christ frequently as the image of life in a community that is centered in Christ. These communities were small and intimate groups who met in small spaces where only 10-15 could gather.

The sharing of food marked these Spirit centered communities. Not really so different from our gatherings today. We socialize around pot luck, serve food for meetings, and most importantly are fed from the Holy Table at the Eucharist.

Community makes our sorrows easier to bear and joy more complete. As we enter into Holy Week, we can be mindful of the love that surrounds us in this community. It is a precious gift.

Nancy Wakeman