As I continue to work and live as a member of two faith communities (all the while becoming more deeply a part of the Mennonite church), I find that I am struggling with the tension between my own deeply American and passionate sense of personal freedom, and my new church’s quiet insistence on the central role of the community in shaping our lives. My own past and my current living situation put me somewhat at odds with traditional Mennonite values, and at odds with recent statements from within my new denomination. I am doing a great deal of thinking and praying and listening these days — and I need to do more — about that major area of divergence.
I found this nice statement from MCUSA’s 2003 resolution on abortion. It reminds me of what I find so attractive about living in community — and it also reminds me of what I find so terrifying about allowing others to have a say in the most intimate aspects of my life:
We believe that the New Testament pictures the church as a community (koinonia), which seeks to discern the will of God and take responsibility as a group for decisions. The emphasis on individual rights and autonomy in our society has deeply affected our community. To call for discernment in the community of faith is counter cultural in the extreme. We urge members of the faith community to engage in a discerning process rather than making decisions in isolation. We recognize that such a process will usually involve only a small group within a congregation. Through this process of counsel and mutual accountability the church may promote a standard without insisting on uniformity for all.
It’s that last sentence that makes me love the Mennonites! I love that we can struggle to hold in tension both individual conscience and community standards, neither running rough-shod over the first or completely abandoning the second.
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