What Does Community Mean to You?
“The
first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in
listening to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to His
Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to
them…”
~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian and martyr
What
I find remarkable about Dietrich Bonhoeffer was his commitment to ally
himself with those who were marginalized and different from him. He was
German and Protestant and thus was in the majority in his community and
nation. Through his writings and his life and even unto death he chose
to stand against the powers and principalities in the government, in
society and, yes, in the Christian church.
He
aligned himself with the weak, the oppressed and the scorned. So much
so that he risked life and limb to help a group of Jews escape to
Switzerland, which led to his arrest and imprisonment. In 1945 he was
hanged in a concentration camp for his participation in a burgeoning
resistance movement against the Nazi regime.
In a well-worn word, he did this in community. Yet this word, this word that has become commonplace is more than a catchword. Bonhoeffer captured the essence of community not only in his writings but through his very being as one who lived and died seeking justice for others and with others.
My continued hope and prayer that we who live in the 21st century would first listen well to one another. To take initiative to listen to the stories of suffering and of joy, and listen with open minds, open hearts and open hands.
In this day and age the marginalized is not so easily recognized among us who are privileged enough to attend and/or work at Providence College. And even so, may we be ever mindful of what may seem invisible is quite tangible, in ways unimagined, just under the surface of all our hearts and in our souls in this community we call Providence College.
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