COMMON UNITY

By Barb Deg
October 2000

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It was with great anticipation that nine very different people came together in January 2000 to take part in Scarboro Missions’ four-month lay preparation programme. In other circumstances we would never have met, let alone come to form a close community.

We were of different ages, different cultural backgrounds, different professions and from different parts of Canada. The only thing that we knew about each other was that we had all been called by God to be in mission in a cross-cultural setting. Community living was nothing new for me, but this was a far cry from college residence.

Our first two weeks at Scarboro Missions flew by. We really did not have time to think, let alone get to know one another. As things settled down, we were able to begin to become part of the Scarboro community and more than the individuals we were.

Our classes were wonderful and will certainly help us when we start our mission assignments in a foreign country. The preparation also included many activities outside the classroom. This is where the building of community really happened. We came together as a group to plan evening prayer, morning liturgies, and even to clean the lay apartment (the common living room and kitchen we shared). It was at these times that we really learned to understand one another.

As we were building our own lay community, we were also becoming part of the larger community at Scarboro Missions. Meals and social times became a time to develop relationships with the priests and other lay members of the Scarboro family. We were welcomed with a lot of love and made to feel at home. The spaghetti dinner at Scarboro House, Scarboro’s house of discernment in Toronto’s west end, was a special time of friendship.

The biggest affirmation of our community came at the end of the preparation programme. We went to the Guelph Centre for Spirituality for an eight-day directed retreat. As it was a silent retreat, it became difficult to see one another and not be able to talk about our experiences and support each other as we had done throughout the four-month programme. We were also anxious to return to Scarboro Missions and be with everyone there.

Our time at Scarboro was filled with a lot of laughter and tears. What built community was what we did with these fun times and sad times. Everyone was open to sharing. In one class on Basic Christian Communities, we were searching for a definition to describe community. Someone came up with “common unity.” That is surely what happens at Scarboro. We were very different people, yet it was our common call and response to this call to be in cross cultural mission that helped to overcome any obstacles that we encountered.

As I prepare to leave for mission in Malawi, Africa, it is this knowledge of ‘common unity’ that I will take with me. With a common purpose and God’s help, very different individuals can form community. My experience of this will certainly help me as I enter into the Malawian culture.

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