Welcome to “the Commons Room of Grace Episcopal Church, belonging to none, welcoming all.”
“Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breath the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” – John F. Kennedy
Diana Butler Bass opens with the realization that upon the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, despite tens of thousand dying from the 9/11 event through the Iraq-Afghanistan wars, the sermon given in the church she was attending focused only on the 4,000 American soldiers who had been killed in the conflict. She then realized that the church in which she was worshiping that day was not mourning the deaths of all people, Christian, Muslim, Jews, friends and enemies, only the Americans.
This experience brought about the author’s recall of a New Testament story from Acts 2:1-13 when the spirit came during a street festival and the religion that had separated all those gathered dissolved, and a new community was created, one of unified humanity. Butler Bass who left the 9/11 remembrance service in dismay and went outside the church observed, “For years, the church kept me safe inside a building. All the while the Spirit was out here on the streets.”
The Commons: Neighborhood and Commons are similar but not the same. Neighborhoods are formed around principles of affinity, people choosing to be near others because of similar background, location, income, tastes or outlook. Commons is what we live for, a public space we make together that serves the good for all, a “public square” open to all. A “common” is infinitely expandable, a place of hospitality for everyone. Putting a plug in for my alma mater, Wake Forest’s motto is “Pro Humanitate” – for humanity, all humanity, without qualification.
Butler Bass further defines Commons as, “a self-governing community of people who inhabit or share the use of land; a habitat of mutual interrelationships.” And the activity of making a commons is the art of “commoning” “to share or commune…to decide things together…a way of life.” Reminiscent of Jesus claiming to be “the Way.” Never said to “worship me” but “follow me.” She later describes the New England town commons as being “open – its borders permeable….belonging to none, welcoming all.”
Communitas is a Latin noun for the “spirit of community.” These groups form beyond regular institutions and organizations and create a profound sense of equality and togetherness – the opposite of alienation and isolation. Is our church, community, denomination one that creates a sense of equality and togetherness or are there limits on who may partake. Do we refuse admission to the table to all but “members” of the church or those who are “baptized?” Sometimes communion doesn’t seem to be about the commons, but rather only for those who belong to certain faith communities. “The seats at the table can be guarded, reserved for those who are saved, especially when the sacred meal is celebrated within the confines of a church building.” Must we conform to creeds, rituals, accepting Christ as our savior who died for my sins to be accepted in the community? Has anyone else heard this message in a Christian church?
In 2008, Karen Armstrong won the TED prize for proposing a global community of compassion. Religion, she says, must drive us towards the largest possible expression of compassion. We cannot confine our compassion to our own group. It must stretch out to the wider global community as “concern for everybody.” Does our religion do to stretch our compassion to the wider global community or does it reserve seats at the table for only those who conform to creeds, rituals and a belief that Jesus is the only way to God?
Our tradition teaches us we are created in God’s image. Butler Bass shares the story of Christmas Eve of 1914 during WWI when soldiers on opposing sides put down their weapons for one night to come out of the trenches, sing carols, exchange gifts and food and greetings with one another. She shares, “that is precisely when we recognize our common humanity – when we recognize our own humanity in the face of the other – it is then that we also recognize the face of God.” This is seeing God in all other faces, the very meaning and purpose of Jesus’ life and teachings.
Grace Episcopal Church 