Community

“The Rabbi’s Gift”
summarized from M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum, Community Making and Peace.

This story concerns a monastery that had fallen on hard times. Once a great order, it had become decimated to the extend that there were only five monks left, the abbot and four others – all over seventy in age.

In the woods near the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi from a nearby town occasionally used for a hermitage. It occurred to the abbot to visit the hermitage and ask the rabbi if by some possible chance he could offer any advice to save the monastery.

The rabbi welcomed the abbot and commiserated with him. “I know how it is,” he said. “It is the same in my town, almost no one comes to the synagogue anymore.” They read the Torah and prayed together. As he was leaving the abbot asked, “Is there nothing you can tell me that would help this dying order?”

“I have no advice to give,” said the rabbi. “The only thing I can tell you is that the Messiah is one of you.”

The abbot returned to the monastery and told the other monks what the rabbi had said. In the days and weeks and months that followed the old monks wondered about the rabbi’s words. Could it be the abbot? What about Brother Thomas? Everyone knows that Thomas is a man of light. Brother Eldred gets angry, but he is always right. Could it be me? As they wondered, they began to treat each other and themselves with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one might be the Messiah.

Because the monastery stood on the edge of a beautiful woods, people would come to picnic on the grounds. As people visited the grounds and wandered into the chapel, they sensed an aura of respect that radiated from the place. There was something strangely attractive and compelling about it.

Hardly without knowing why, people began to come and visit and pray at the monastery and talk to the old monks. Some of the younger men stayed to talk and eventually one asked if he could join them. Within a few years, the monastery had once again become a thriving order, and thanks to the rabbi’s gift, a vibrant center of light and spirituality in the land.

One of the great gifts of our youth fellowship programs is the mix of students across different grades, different schools and even different towns. The JYF and MYF groups have become strong communities where young people work to understand each other’s gifts and graces – as well as challenges -- and respect what each brings to bear and share across their differences. It is hard work, as all community life is, but the rewards have been quickly realized by these groups. Hopefully, as we all approach each other seeing the light of hope in each, we can magnify that respect and strengthen our communities even further.