intentional community
No Religion is an Island
By Abraham Joshua Heschel
No religion is an island;
There is no monopoly on holiness.
We are companions of all who revere God
We all rejoice when we walk in God’s way.
No religion is an island;
We share the kinship of humanity,
The capacity for compassion. Continue reading
The Long Loneliness
“The only answer to this life, to the loneliness we are all bound to feel, is community. The living together, working together, sharing together, loving God and loving our brother and sister, and living close to them in community so we can show our love for God.” -Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist, and anarchist who started the Catholic Worker movement.
On Peace
“Peace is more than the absence of war, more than the maintenance of balance of power between enemies. It is more than the firm hold of a dictator that, for the moment, involves no bloodshed. But then, what is peace? Continue reading
Where True Identity Lies
By Sue Monk Kidd
When I was six years old someone asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” At that age, living in a small Georgia town in the 1950s, I could only think of four careers for women—they were the only stories I knew: teacher, nurse, secretary, and housewife. By some process of elimination, I picked nurse. From that moment on, I began to get little nurse kits for my birthdays. Continue reading
Ball of Twine/Yarn
Materials:
- Ball of twine/yarn Continue reading
Human Knot
Do this only if whole group feels comfortable touching and holding hands. Maybe ask people to close their eyes and put their thumbs up or down if they are comfortable. If even one person is not, do not do this activity.
Choose an issue such as poverty, education, immigration, or anything you/the group/society are currently facing. Ask the group to stand in a circle and join right hands with a person across the circle from them. As the pair join hands, invite each of the people (or both as a pair) to name a cause that contributes to the issue you’ve selected. Go around the circle until all participants have had a turn to speak. Continue reading
Strengths and Weaknesses
What you need:
- Square sheet of paper
- Writing utensil Continue reading
Home
By Aisha Patterson
Home is the place your heart resides
Home is the place that you decide
Home is the womb that holds the soul
Home is the place where one is whole
Home is the glow you hold in your eye
Home is the emotion that makes you cry
Home is safe and a place of peace
Home is where all strivings cease
Home is a memory that follows your being
Home is a dream for those agreeing
Home is the place where reserves fall
Home is the place you yearn to call
Home is where the family meets
Home is a place of restful retreats
Home is the place you know you’ll be heard
Home is the place where nothing blurs
Home is all these wonderful things
Home is the place you develop wings
Home is the place that you’ll find one day
Home is the place where your heart will stay
People Equal
By James Berry
Some people shoot up tall.
Some hardly leave the ground at all.
Yet-people equal. Equal.
One voice is a sweet mango.
Another is a nonsugar tomato.
Yet-people equal. Equal.
Some people rush to the front.
Others hang back, feeling they can’t.
Yet-people equal. Equal.
Hammer some people, you meet a wall.
Blow hard on others, they fall.
Yet-people equal. Equal.
One person will aim at a star.
For another, a hilltop is too far.
Yet-people equal. Equal.
Some people get on with their show.
Others never get on the go.
Yet-People equal. Equal.
James Berry was a Jamaican author of several books of poetry and children’s literature.