The Servant Community - continues....by Stanley Haurwas. (unable to post on Tuesday)
At a general level there is much to be said for the contention that every ethic is a social ethic. The self is fundamentally a social self. We are not individuals who come into contact with others and then decide our various levels of social involvement. We are not "I's" who decide to identify with certain "we's"; we are first of all "we's" who discover our "I's" through learning to recognize the others as similar and different from ourselves. Our individuality is possible only because we are first of all social beings. After all, the "self" names not a thing, but a relationship. I know who I am only in relation to others, and, indeed, who I am is a relation with others.
When we attempt to "find ourselves" it is a bit odd that we pull away from others. The journey of self-understanding and self-renewal may be the journey into the depths of community. For some time I have thrown around the notion of an 'urban spirituality.' It is my way of saying stay put and be the beloved that we are. It is also my way of saying look around and appreciate what is a part of the matrix in which we live. It is taking note of this "we" and at the same time becoming much more in tune with the "I" that moves and breathes alongside others who are finding their "I" in the midst of the "we" that is shared within the everyday communities in which we live. We are this wonderful relational people and there is no place more important to be relational than in, with, and under the people who are all around us - even when we are within the common arenas of our lives. To think that we must go off to find self...may prevent us from coming back and being the most essential part of who we are as followers of Jesus - a "we." I know a person who so longs to be on retreat and in the midst of private solitude (which is a wonderful journey) but this person is unable to experience of the joy of being a "we."
Connection: Blessed are 'we' when it includes you and me. Blessed are you and me when there is a "we" that becomes us.
Lord of New Life, lead us into the paths of others so that as we long to see you more clearly we may find how close you are and that the vision needed to see your glory is vision that is already available to us - right here - right now. Amen.
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