Gas Prices and Community
I don’t need to outline the pain that the price of gas is inflicting on us all. It is an albatross around the collective neck of our country. When you live in the exurbs like I do, you drive a lot. I drive an hour to work and an hour-twenty to church at 85 mph. I would never choose to live like this, but it is something of a lack of foresight on my part, and something of a lack of financial possibilities. I have a feeling that many people are absolutely sick of living in this manner.
Now, there is also a large sector of the population that thinks the American dream is living on as many acres as possible, as far away from people as possible, in the biggest home that is possible. I think there is a change in the air, indeed upon us, but it will take decades to work itself out.
One large factor in my thinking is the definition of the good life, as posited by Aristotle, Aquinas and the Christian tradition. Philip Bess sums up the tradition on the good life:
Did you catch ‘with others in communities’? In the past, this was a given, you lived in the same town, village or state for most of your life. Your family surrounded you, for good or ill. But as we know, this has completely changed. We are hyper-mobile, generally don’t care about where we grew up, and like to stick family members in day care and nursing homes.
But again, change is in the air, younger Christians are yearning for tangible community, seeking to be free of the poverty of suburban bubble life. But can such ‘community’ be lived in churches that we drive hours to? Churches that we do not live near? People that we see once or twice a week? I would argue no, it cannot be. I believe that the thoroughly medieval notion that you attend the parish next to your house, that you know and are known by your neighbors and fellow believers. And yet I am by no means living this. For me to attend the parish closest to home would mean going to a Restorationist Church that denies all the creeds. Since I have strong convictions that faithful Anglicanism is the best hope for the revival of Christendom in the future, I remain Anglican, which entails a lot of driving.
This is now how it should be. And yet I cannot afford to live near the parish I attend. But here is where my vision comes in. I believe we are in a period of great darkness and yet great opportunity. Ignorance abounds, and we need communities that will preserve ancient knowledge and advance the gospel. We need something along the lines of monastics, but monastics who are married, work a day job, and live in the world. We need a Christian town, a Christian city. Several thousand actually.
Stephen and I may diverge here, but my vision is for a group of Christians to sacrificially pioneer an effort to relocate to a specific geographical location, and plant a new Anglican parish there. We would work in that community, live in that community, worship in that community, and fellowship in that community. No more hour-long commutes, we’d be thinking local here. This idea seems absurd to me, because I think that no one out in cyberspace will care enough to do it. And yet, Stephen found my initial post, and the idea spread. If you are reading this, perhaps the idea will spread to you.
This is a call to a totally counter-cultural way of life, to creating an oasis in the midst of post-modern America by planting roots, sinking them deep, and looking to the distant future for a full blossoming. But this is also a liberating and glorious idea. Walking to work, walking to church, knowing your neighbors, and not wasting endless hours in traffic. It all seems surreal to me, and perhaps it is. Perhaps this will never happen, but it is my dream.
Now, there is also a large sector of the population that thinks the American dream is living on as many acres as possible, as far away from people as possible, in the biggest home that is possible. I think there is a change in the air, indeed upon us, but it will take decades to work itself out.
One large factor in my thinking is the definition of the good life, as posited by Aristotle, Aquinas and the Christian tradition. Philip Bess sums up the tradition on the good life:
...the good life for individual human beings is the life of individual moral and intellectual virtue (or excellence) lived with others in communities. Aristotle himself characterized the four components of the good life as good health, sufficient wealth to satisfy our bodily needs, good habits, and good fortune.
Did you catch ‘with others in communities’? In the past, this was a given, you lived in the same town, village or state for most of your life. Your family surrounded you, for good or ill. But as we know, this has completely changed. We are hyper-mobile, generally don’t care about where we grew up, and like to stick family members in day care and nursing homes.
But again, change is in the air, younger Christians are yearning for tangible community, seeking to be free of the poverty of suburban bubble life. But can such ‘community’ be lived in churches that we drive hours to? Churches that we do not live near? People that we see once or twice a week? I would argue no, it cannot be. I believe that the thoroughly medieval notion that you attend the parish next to your house, that you know and are known by your neighbors and fellow believers. And yet I am by no means living this. For me to attend the parish closest to home would mean going to a Restorationist Church that denies all the creeds. Since I have strong convictions that faithful Anglicanism is the best hope for the revival of Christendom in the future, I remain Anglican, which entails a lot of driving.
This is now how it should be. And yet I cannot afford to live near the parish I attend. But here is where my vision comes in. I believe we are in a period of great darkness and yet great opportunity. Ignorance abounds, and we need communities that will preserve ancient knowledge and advance the gospel. We need something along the lines of monastics, but monastics who are married, work a day job, and live in the world. We need a Christian town, a Christian city. Several thousand actually.
Stephen and I may diverge here, but my vision is for a group of Christians to sacrificially pioneer an effort to relocate to a specific geographical location, and plant a new Anglican parish there. We would work in that community, live in that community, worship in that community, and fellowship in that community. No more hour-long commutes, we’d be thinking local here. This idea seems absurd to me, because I think that no one out in cyberspace will care enough to do it. And yet, Stephen found my initial post, and the idea spread. If you are reading this, perhaps the idea will spread to you.
This is a call to a totally counter-cultural way of life, to creating an oasis in the midst of post-modern America by planting roots, sinking them deep, and looking to the distant future for a full blossoming. But this is also a liberating and glorious idea. Walking to work, walking to church, knowing your neighbors, and not wasting endless hours in traffic. It all seems surreal to me, and perhaps it is. Perhaps this will never happen, but it is my dream.
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