so celebrate we will...

I love my sisters.

I've learned so much from community life. Yeah, at Furman the whole sorority thing is definately not as intense as at other schools, but we still get quite a taste of what its like to live together (the campus is small enough as is). I've never had a biological sister, so greek life is about as close as its going to get. Brothers don't share joys and sorrows like sisters do... I think my brothers would rather fall over dead than tell me the play-by-play of their last date (and to be perfectly honest, that's fiiiiine by me) or how they're currently feeling towards X, Y, and Z... sisters are just... different.

This whole mushy gushy hodgepodge has been running through my mind lately because of everything thats going on... happy things like engagements and acceptances into grad schools, sad things like the VT shootings and sickness... it's nice to have a place to share the good, the bad, the ugly.

Christian community has been a struggle for me this year -- upstate South Carolina is an interesting place religiously, to say the least. We've got Bob Jones at one end and the highest voodoo practice per capita at the other (three cheers for Beaufort). It's hard to pin down how we're all united with all of the differences at the forefront all the time. Intense joy and intense sorrow bring the unity out, though... they really do.

..."so celebrate we will,

for life is short

but sweet for certain"

-Dave

I started reading Mere Christianity (again.. I can't seem to stick with it for some bizarre reason), and the opening chapter about the "invisible standard" really struck me. We're talking about it in Augustine class, too... how we seem to have some sort of moral code written on our hearts. It dictates appropriate behavior, differences between good and evil... maybe even some sort of guide for gender roles. Behind all of our differences, some invisible standard gives us the ability to even have differences in the first place. We don't argue as much about whether good and evil exist... we argue about what defines them.

We're united in emotions, too -- we have empathy for each other because of our shared experiences. When we're united in some sort of community, that empathy has a place to plant itself and grow -- we give of our own experiences, vicariously experience the joys and pains of others, and allow our lives to combine and interract. Through this, we "increase our capacity for love!" (yeah, St. Therese).

When we restrict our community by cliques and coldness, we literally decrease our capacity for love. Now, I'm not talking organized religion here -- clearly, I'm all for it. Pretending we're all the same is silly, not to mention counterintuitive to where I'm even going with all of this. Sharing differences -- not just similarities -- is what increases the capacity for love. Shying away from dialogue by hiding behind tarps of similarity, though... that's where we get into trouble.

The world tells us to divide and conquer, every man for himself... the Christian calling is radically different.

"Oh how glorious our Faith is! Instead of restricting hearts, as the world fancies, it uplifts them and enlarges their capacity for love."
St. Therese of Lisieux