Danielle Garrett, Intern Minister

One of the most formative experiences of my time as a lay leader at a large church was participating in a small, informal Bible study. We jokingly called ourselves the “Underground Bible Club” since we met in the church’s lower level. We started reading the Gospels one at a time, one meeting discussing the text itself and then the next meeting discussing photocopied pages of Biblical commentaries one of our seminarian members would scan and send to the group. So many beautiful things grew out of this time together, including new friendships, an advent practice of daily scripture reading, and eventually a food pantry built into the back of the church building that operated on a “give what you can, take what you need” basis. Turns out the Bible has a lot of verses about feeding people and we felt called to take them literally.

For me, this experience is a microcosm of everything I love about church—spiritual and intellectual engagement, multi-generation relationships, and concrete opportunities to live out our values in the wider world. And I love that it grew so organically! We did not start with a five-year plan or measurable learning goals. We did not set out saying “We will read the Bible together for a year and then will implement a service project meant to serve X number of people.” The fruits of this experiment grew out of just taking the time to be together, eating cookies, asking questions, disagreeing, laughing, crying, and sometimes even praying.

This feels like such a counter-cultural way to live in our productivity-obsessed world! It strikes me that church is one of the few places in our society that makes room for that kind of spacious existence and spiritual experimentation. It’s a place where we don’t always have to worry about sales quotas and project timeline. Don’t get me wrong, a good strategic plan plays an important role in church operations! But there is still so much space to focus on just being together—on building relationships and having deep conversations and planting seeds that will blossom in their own good time. 

I feel this same sense of community, spaciousness, and possibility in some of the small groups I’m a part of at this congregation, such as the Wellspring Sources cohort I’m co-facilitating and my LGBTQ+ Community Circle. We often leave these spaces with more questions than answers, but this never feels like a failure. We’re holding those questions in community and moving deeper into relationship with one another by asking them. Our souls are being fed and our minds expanded. I trust that good things will grow out of this time together, whether or not I can predict or measure them. 

Some of you have expressed disappointment that you didn’t have time to join a community circle this go-round. Rest assured, there will be more formal opportunities next year, but you don’t have to wait! We can experience this same kind of community in other ways, even if it’s just taking the time to linger at coffee hour discussing a sermon or carving out an extra 30 minutes before a committee meeting to share a meal together. In a big church, it can sometimes feel like there are a lot of things to do but not enough spaces to get to know each other. I invite you to lean into co-creating those spaces of connection, even if they are ad hoc or temporary. Remember that just being together is deeply sacred and worthwhile work. What a joy and a gift to belong to a community that makes space for it.