Page 24 - C.A.L.L. #22 - Fall 2003

Excuses to (Still) Live in Community by Meghan Reha

Plow Creek Fellowship

"So you live in community, eh?" Someone asked me one day, as I was trying to relax in the living room in Auckland, New
Zealand. I groaned inwardly thinking, "Here we go again." See, I've had this conversation before, and I could never tell
anyone what community really was, because really, what is community to me? Every time I try to have this conversation, it
gets bogged down somewhere between the legal ramifications of coordinating finances and the truth about Mennonites (no, I
don't wear a bonnet!). The frequency of the question has helped me formulate a more concise and interesting answer. Or at
least one that I like better.
(It's funnier.)

The principles I have gleaned
from my vast experience of
community are few (and
simple if you have enough
practice). They even apply in
the wild blue yonder.
1. Just say NO. A very basic
rule to any sort of calm co-
existence with anyone else is
that you must learn to say no.
The trick is to say no in a
quietly suggestive manner so
that the other party is neither offended nor embarrassed. In fact, the most subtle of all can make it seem like the other
person thought of it him or herself, saving everyone that awkward moment. However, when subtly doesn't work, Just Say
NO. I have Mark and Louise Stahnke to thank for such a lesson - else I might still be at their house playing computer games!
2. Don't start something you can't finish. I can't say that I have a lot of personal experience with this one, but I know that
giving in community can sometimes get out of hand. I am sure that somewhere in my parent's house is a white elephant "gift"
that changed hands regularly and has beached itself in my father's workshop. I also remember my mother telling stories
about a round of pranks that ended with someone's underwear in the refrigerator disguised as burritos...?
3. The more people, the more fun. Like it or not, work projects aren't what they used to be. Despite all my complaining when
it was time to wake up, the effort was worth it after a morning's worth of stacking wood and throwing snowballs and a warm
cup of hot cocoa with the mini marshmallows. And it was such a team effort - all the men splitting, women and kids loading
into trucks, then driving to such and such a house lining up and passing it piece by piece down some narrow hatchway,
sometimes counting it, sometimes naming each piece and sometimes just cracking jokes with whoever stood beside you.
4. Food is just an excuse to get together. Come on now - you don't think we went to common meal just for the Soup did you?
(Although, Margaret, that soup was excellent!)

There are many other rules that probably belong on this list, but as I consider what I love about community, I think the one
thing that I could never quite communicate about this community business is that community, for all that it is distinguished
by sharing property and finances and endless meetings, really isn't about those things at all! It's really all about the people.
What good is "It's time to go home now, Meghan," if you haven't spent a lovely evening together? What good is a practical joke
if there's no one to laugh about it with later? Why bother stacking firewood if there's no friend to share the fire with?
As I wandered the world these past months, far from everything I understood as community, I saw it everywhere.
Community is just friends caring for each other. Community is not something that we invented or that will die out when we
are gone. People will always want to be together and to know each other intimately. People will always want to grow close to
God in that way. There will always be people sharing long talks, games of soccer, watermelon, clothes. And for my future,
well - I intend to take that secret with me and to bring
community wherever I go. It may not be the purest form of
community, but there will be food, and what is food but just an
excuse to get together? And what is community but just
getting together with an excuse?

Meghan graduated from Princeton High School in 2002 and
then went to New Zealand with Youth With A Mission. Plow
Creek is still home for Meghan.

Plow Creek Mennonite Church
19183 Plow Creek Rd Unit 2
Tiskilwa IL 61368
pcmc1@plowcreek.org

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