TEA NIGHT is simultaneously a continuation of the meetings that a few of us held a couple years ago to discuss philosophical ideas and a resurrection of Dave's attempt to get us talking about the books we are reading. For now I will ask a different person each month to post an introduction to a topic and a brief rundown of the books on their mind. Then we will all comment. This can be our own NPR This American Life, our own Wall Street Journal editorial, our own digestion of life together. I hope that through this we can 1) continue to connect with each other, 2) broaden and develop each other's and our own reading and thoughts, and 3) leave a permanent account of how we are maturing.
So I'll begin this week with something on my mind. Traveling seems to clip a person's opportunity to form community, but at the same time travelers invigorate the communities they pass through like bees pollenating flowers. Is it worth it? Allison and I are hoping to spend our lives in as many places as God will take us, but coming off our year in China, what we want most is community. I wonder if we have wilted, I in Boston where I made few deep connections, and she in China. China for me was even worse because I again made deep connections like I did in college but had to severe them almost immediately. We plan to stay in Portland for three years so that we can feel established, make and benefit from some good nurturing friendships, and recharge before leaving again for a year long trip. Will three years be long enough? Will it end up being just even more painful than leaving China or Harding was?
I want to say that what makes community is similarity, but I actually believe it is variety that makes community worth while. I like the image of bees and flowers. What I got out of my years at Harding was exposure to what was outside of me: you guys. I had plenty of exposure to differences in Boston. What was missing was commitment I suppose.
So what makes community, what do we miss by missing community, and what is God's vision for his people and community?
I think I feel like I SHOULD stay put somewhere and commit to a community and wonder whether I can GET AWAY with traveling my whole life.
As for my reading these days:
Annie Dillard's An American Childhood has impressed me with her usual transformation of the mundane into the extraordinary. The best part of the book is the fact that she has awakened a deep desire I never had before to see Pittsburgh. She renders it with such beauty while still showing its crustiness that there is hope for my hometown popping out in my writing too.
W.D. Howells' The Rise of Silas Lapham has bored me and I've pretty much stopped it. However, it is interesting as an artifact of the growth of the middle class in America. I never could enjoy Realism until I realized it was an attempt to apply democracy to literature. These days I am struggling with whether democracy is a Christian idea or not.
Erik Larson's Devil in the White City about the intertwined stories of the architect who built Chicago's 1893 World Fair and the serial killer who preyed on its visitors I listened to on CD as I drove 23 hours from Boston to Arkansas this week. I was hoping that it would teach some Chicago history, but I knew if that failed, at least its morbidness would hold my attention and it did.
