1/29/2018 1 Comment It's all about Community, Right?This week I got to eat dinner with two of the Asheville, North Carolina YAVs and I realized that the problems I was stressing over were not exclusive to Washington DC. One of my biggest takeaways from attempting to live into the YAV core tenets (Intentional Christian Community, Simple Living, Cross Cultural Mission, Leadership Development Through Faith in Action, and Vocational Discernment) is that intentional community is hard. As someone who appreciates functional systems, I encouraged the creation of systems to ensure cooking, cleaning, shopping, and house meetings occurred regularly and efficiently. Unfortunately, I looked past the very different personalities living in the house, and the house turned into a group of acquaintances living decently together in the machine I created. There were few moments of compassion, bonding, or community building that occurred. When we realized this during our YAV retreat the last weekend of October, we made moves to finally increase the trust needed for a real community to flourish. We named our house Britney Spears (because Britney Spears and Presbyterians are anagrams) and drafted a community covenant (Some lines have been removed because they contain inside jokes that may not make sense outside of our home): We the residents of (REDACTED) in the land of Washington in the Federal District of Columbia, in order to successfully live in intentional community, have agreed upon and established the following items to serve as the year-long community covenant for the House of Britney Spears. As a Christian community we understand that a covenant is a solemn agreement between the members of a community to act together in harmony with the precepts of the gospel and is therefore stronger than a mere contract. We recognize that peoples are strongest when in community and therefore we agree to share responsibilities that are beneficial to the good of the house including, but not limited to: Grocery shopping, meal preparation, house care and wellness, respecting and cleaning personal and communal spaces, payment of bills and expenses, and attending weekly meetings. Members also agree to the planning and participation of community building activities that encourage exploration of this great city, the care for houseplants (as they serve as an extension of God’s beautiful creation), and the upkeep of a communal calendar. To be at our best, we must communicate honestly and compassionately, share our needs with one another, work through needs together, respect boundaries and personal space, ask for help openly and freely, never devalue one another, and mutually encourage during this year of discernment. Finally, we address that the communal house seating system exists and will continue to exist in a state of anarchy, the name of our heroine, Britney Spears, shall never be taken in vain (For if she can survive 2007 we will survive this year), (REDACTED), (REDACTED). In testimony henceforth on this First day in the month of December in the year of our Lord two thousand and seventeen, the signatures affixed of the residents and the site coordinator commit to this covenant in order to Eat, Live, Love, and Laugh together as one community. We also had more parties, planned bonding events inside and outside the home (bar trivia, zoo lights, Christmas card pictures, ice skating, brunch, cooking a meal together for the Georgetown rotating shelter, board game nights, etc.), and have truly attempted to live into our covenant and make the DC YAV community as successful as possible. No system works perfectly (especially when it is established for four 20-somethings who are still discovering their place in this world). We argue, we experience external stressors, we get frustrated, but we are truly in a better place than we were in September/October. Intentional community is hard, even when I was surrounded by communities of like-minded people in college. Now I have to work toward successful relationships in my house, my job placement, and my social life. It is easy to want to give up at times and I get frustrated when progress doesn’t occur as fast as I would like, but I made a commitment to live into intentional community. It would be a disservice to my time in DC if I just did what was easy and avoided the challenging aspects of my life. Ways you can continue to support me along this journey:
1 Comment
MARNA AMES
1/30/2018 07:44:47 am
It takes work to make it work .😊 It will be worth it!
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AuthorMy name is Sam Russell. I am 23 years old and determined to discover more about the world and my place in it. I love exploring, travelling, learning, and enjoying nature. In May of 2016, I graduated with honors from The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) with a degree in business administration. Following graduation, I spent a summer working in Skagway, Alaska (If you’ve never been to Alaska I highly recommend it) before accepting a front desk job at The Skirvin Hilton in Oklahoma City. Since a young age, I thought I had my entire future as a hotel manager/owner figured out. However, now that I am in the “real world,” my goals are changing, putting me in a period of vocational and spiritual discernment. I believe that adventure is all around us and that we must embrace it and grow from it to become who we are meant to be. Being a Young Adult Volunteer in Washington D.C. is the next step on my journey, and I can’t wait to see what this incredible city has in store for me! Archives
January 2018
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