Communal Life Up Close

I am currently enjoying the hospitality of one of the communities of the religion known as The 12 Tribes. I took advantage of the relative close proximity of one of these communities to where I am working on my sisters house in Virginia. This is part of the very close network of communities that grew out of the original community started in Chattanooga Tennessee back in the seventies. I wrote about our experience with them at that time a little over a year ago after I re-discovered them on the internet. Ever since then I have been wanting to visit one of these communities to see firsthand what they are like. Of course I still desire to visit the one that has returned to their roots in Chattanooga, but all of the communities are very similar and I am getting a good glimpse of how life in the community operates in the few hours I have spent here so far. Of course much of what I think is very subjective and relevant to my own experiences in years of living around self-supporting institutions myself. But I also think I am old enough and have enough experience recognizing human nature and tendencies to also perceive some things even apart from those experiences.

With my exposure to many different ministries and the insights learned especially from James Wilder about how we are designed to live in community, I have been keen to actually experience first-hand an environment that may actually utilize some of the principles I have been learning. I am also interested even more in experiencing and observing a group of people that I feel is motivated and relating to each other in the way the early Christian church functioned.

I am aware that many churches and organizations claim to be following that model but as we all know claims are usually not much more than that. They may use that example as a goal toward which they strive to work toward, but invariably it becomes evident sooner or later that either they settle for a nebulous approximation of that original demonstration or alternative means of motivation are employed at some point to achieve the desired symptoms of unity and Christian joy.

We arrived (my nephew and I) yesterday afternoon in time to get a look around the property before it got dark and enjoyed petting some brand new baby goats and visiting the large greenhouse they have set up.

A few women were in the spacious kitchen preparing food for the planned weekly evening Shabbot celebration but generally there were not too many people around. Most of the men work in the construction trade and spend their days working on jobs in communities nearby or in Washington D.C. where they say the commercial construction market is really booming. This community produces enough excess income to help support other communities that are still struggling to become self-supporting including the recent one restarted in Chattanooga.

As I chatted with one of the leaders last night about the various communities I learned that all of their restaurants are modeled on the original layout and design of the first Yellow Deli that we used to visit back in the seventies. The new one about to open in downtown Chattanooga right beside the University of Tennessee apparently looks very much like the original one that was located not far away back in the old days. The rest of them located around the country attached to other communities are all modeled on that same plan. I found this very intriguing.

I observed that the dress and demeanor of these people are very familiar from my days in self-supporting work but reflective more of the very conservative wings of those groups. There is a lot of striking similarity in the style of hair and clothing in all of the people here somewhat reminiscent in some respects of the Amish or Mennonite communities throughout the country. The men generally have somewhat long hair pulled back into a very short ponytail and the women wear their hair much longer with head-coverings, especially during the religious services. Also during the evening celebration most of the men wear a narrow band around their head that are all the same.

Of course these are merely external observations that may or may not mean a whole lot about the internal social structure of this society or the internal motivations of the individuals. That is an arena that I am very aware is up for more perception and very open to interpretation depending on what you choose to believe about these people. There is a very broad spectrum of ways you could view how these communities function based on one's bias and prejudices or willingness and open-mindedness for real discernment. These groups are quite familiar with the diabolical results of outside society fearful of what may be going on within these communities and sometimes trying to crash in and tear apart by force or slander the fellowship and the unique and different lifestyle that these people have chosen to enjoy. This has resulted in tragic horror stories, some of which I am familiar with and some which happened early in their development when we knew them originally back in Chattanooga.

But my real question is more along the lines of wanting to discern for myself how successful they are in reproducing genuine community in spirit. I am interested to learn how much the apparent external “success” comes from free, Spirit-led transformation that creates spontaneously the outward and inward close-knit society described in Acts or how much may be tainted subtly with the employment of close supervision, controlled and imposed thinking and carefully restricted access to outside ideas. I am very familiar with those kinds of controls and spiritual manipulation in attempts to produce spiritual uniformity and I am also all too familiar with the unintended consequences of those practices.

But at the same time I want to be painfully careful to be open-minded and not allow any of my own potential prejudices to taint my opinions. I want to maintain a close connection to the Spirit of God myself to guide me in understanding and perceiving what I am observing, not only in the externals which may not be that hard to produce sometimes, but much more importantly in the real motivations and internal transformation that produces those externals. To complicate this objective I also realize that each individual here is going to be somewhat different and there are always going to be variables due to faulty human nature and people ready to exploit or try to control others subtly but quite effectively.

At this point I am going to leave most of these questions open and I certainly do not want to rush to judgment. I am personally aware of the damage and pain that can be caused by people wanting to label others and put them into a box and not giving them a chance to present their own side of an issue or situation. I have been on the receiving end of that at times and I am sure I have also unfortunately been on the delivering end as well. But what I am really wanting to see for myself here is the answers to the questions from the heart side of me even more than the curiosity questions posed by my left-brain. I want to examine the fruit as Jesus invites us to do.

As I have been launched into my own journey more intensely over the past few years into learning to live from my heart and find much more balance in my own personal experience, my heart has become more and more hungry to observe and participate in the things that really nourish and feed the spirit and that causes one to really thrive. But at the same time, especially given my own personal history with other group's attempts to address that need unsuccessfully, I have some very sharp warning areas or a sense of intense alertness to subtle signs of certain elements that tend to poison the pure, sweet environment that I believe was experienced in the early New Testament believers. This is not to say that if any of these elements are present that the whole experiment is false or is to be condemned. But I am very sensitive because I know first-hand as well as second hand through the lives of friends how much inner damage can be caused to the heart while the externals continue to look very positive, religious and even very happy. I guess part of what I am saying is that happiness and conformity are not the only signs of successful unity in community.

Anyway, I have obviously gotten way off track here in capturing my observations of my experience so far. I plan to be here for another full day or more so I have a great deal more to learn. In addition I know that much of the real “politics” or dynamics of the relationships within this organization would be much more plainly seen if I were to spend a week or two working alongside of them on the jobs they do and observing their interactions when under a lot more stress or in conflict situations. That is when the real spirit and motivation of a group becomes much more clear but is often kept carefully concealed from outsiders. But that is really the core issues that interest my heart much more than anything else. How do they relate to dissent, to individuals who may be learning “truth” differently than the leadership approves of, who insist on listening to the Spirit personally and following their conscience while still desiring to have fellowship with other believers? That is the kind of things that tell me what the real spirit is within a group of people far more than outward success in cohesiveness.

At the same time the externals do reflect to a great degree what may be going on internally and much can be learned from those observations too. So I would like to finish relating my experience last night before I get side-tracked again too much.

By seven o'clock more and more people had arrived to enjoy their traditional Friday night celebration service to welcome in the Sabbath rest. I found this joyful and largely musical experience to be immensely refreshing to my spirit. Though I did not know any of the songs because it is quite evident that they have built up over the years their own repertoire of music reflective of their unique beliefs about eschatology and God, the spirit and communal nature of the music and Hebrew-style dancing was, like I said very refreshing. I guess I continue to use that word because my own heart cannot find any other accurate description describing its emotion.

It was clear that there was a certain routine or order in which they flow through their celebration time, but it was very full of a certain amount of spontaneity and genuine expressions of gratitude and devotion to “our Father”. There was a time of freedom for anyone to stand up and express some thought, belief commonly held by the community or recently learned teaching that they had applied to their life. At the beginning of this celebration everyone was served a saucer with a couple slices of tomato and homemade crackers along with some maté tea from one of their communities in Brazil. A little later everyone sat down at tables together and enjoyed their evening meal while interacting intentionally as community. Then the tables were cleared and again everyone gathered in the community room to participate fully in a couple more hours of rich, folk-style live music produced by excellent musicians while men, women and children joined in as they desired to dance around in circles in what was obviously well-learned traditions of Hebrew dancing.

I was very impressed as I watched the faces and interactions of the many people there how much quiet but careful attention was given to the significance of all the children. The children were quite unlike what Americans would term typical because they were growing up in a much more tightly-knit and caring community. To me they were refreshingly peaceful, calm and happy. They often enthusiastically joined in with the dancing with eagerness and were always accommodated by the adults who helped them move around safely and smoothly in the fast-moving circles. I was even amused to later watch one of the babies during a quiet time when many were sitting on the floor just enjoying the musicians. She was just at the point of learning to walk and was still very unstable on her feet. But it looked rather clear to me that she was trying to dance. The thought struck me that the children in this environment may learn to dance even before they learn to walk. I think that is really cool.

Near the end of the celebration time close to ten o'clock we were all served some kind of pie that was absolutely delicious. I think it was a type of Carob flavor but have never enjoyed one that had this light, delicate taste. I know my wife is going to want the recipe. After the final songs sung standing together and with great enthusiasm, the group slowly began to disperse to their various homes or rooms while some stayed around to fellowship a little more. I ended up staying up till midnight dialogging with a few men and trying to learn more about how they think and believe. Then we retired to our room and ended up talking for another hour before I could stay awake no longer.

This morning I understand we will have a time of testimonies, music and praise before eating maybe a light breakfast. Later others will again arrive to enjoy lunch together but generally they preserve the Sabbath day for people to relax, sleep or take walks. Then in the evening they will again have a large communal celebration and they said at that time all of the ones “in covenant” will break bread together. I am looking forward to spending a Sabbath in an environment unlike any I have been in for all of my life. I am learning a great deal and will take time to reflect on it again afterwards.

God, fill me with Your Spirit of peace, rest, joy and freedom today. Open my eyes, unlock my heart and unprejudice my mind to not only be discerning but to be refreshed and be open to thriving. Thank-you for what You are doing here and teach me Your ways. Show me the genuine methods You have that will produce the results of unity completely naturally and from the heart by the transformation and bonding of Your Spirit in hearts open to Your love.