The Christian Community in North America

“The Light of the Body is Your Eye” (Lk.11:34)

A large part of our lives—maybe the largest part—consists of watching events without being able to do anything. That is true for the news the world dishes up for us every day; it is also true for countless events that happen to us. Natural disasters, illness, human tragedies, war and terror—they all put their stamp on the world, and we, powerless, can only watch. This powerlessness is our collective lot; and it is also a sign of this time. We have developed a spectator consciousness that has the tendency to keep looking, even when the situation asks us to act. “I stood there and watched.” No more, but also no less. Rarely do we realize that through our glance we can add something to the reality around us. How do we look at it?
One person’s confused gaze makes the darkness around him or her even more turbid than it already is, whereas another can light up the darkness with a lucid glance.

Of course this does not relieve us of the duty to act when we possibly can. But if watching is the only thing we can do, our glance has to be clear.

“The light of the body is your eye.”

Our eyes can do much more than watch: they can perceive. And if our inner light is sufficiently lucid, they can do even more than perceive clearly. They can add something to the reality:

A look of recognition
An enlightening insight
A stream of love.

-Rev. Bastiaan Baan, March 7, 2021

March 8, 2021/1 Comment/by CCNA

Blog, Youth Opportunities

YOUTH ADVENTURE CAMPS!!

Youth Adventure Camps!

This summer, the Youth Adventure Camp of The Christian Community is going to the trail, to the beach, to the rivers. We will run outdoor adventure camps this summer with room for twenty participants on each trip.

Each trip will create an independent and full camp experience, with singing, stories and projects as well as the outdoors camping aspect of building our own camp, cooking our own food, and on some trips, traveling to our next camp location.

How to Heal? A Youth Conference
June 16 – 23, Atlanta, GA
For rising 9th – 12th graders

North Carolina Kite Camp
June 27 – July 3, Hammocks Beach State Park
for rising 6th – 8th graders

NY Backpacking Camp
July 12 – 21, Harriman State Park
for rising 6th – 8th graders

Youth Adventure Canoe Camp
July 26 – August 5, Flambeau River, Wisconsin
for rising 9th – 12th graders

Children’s Canoe Camp – Camp Greenwood Lake
August 8 – 18, Namekagon River, Wisconsin
for rising 6th – 8th graders

Click here to learn more about the trips or to register:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OrCScNgEKJNAoEayodmHlKkz7dNWbwFF/view?usp=sharing

Participation cost is $1000
with a $100 sibling discount for each sibling attending

FINANCIAL AID: No one should stay away for financial reasons! Financial Aid is available on a need and availability basis. Email Youth Adventure Camp director Jen Zimberg at ccyouthadventurecamp@gmail.com

March 2, 2021/0 Comments/by CCNA

Blog, Homilies

The Transfiguration on the Mountain (Mt.17:1-13)

The Transfiguration on the Mountain (Mt.17:1-13)

Each era has its own images of Christ. Each of these images has its own one-sidedness, but maybe together they form the whole truth. In the first few centuries of Christianity there were only symbols of abundant life and trust: the fish, the anchor, the shepherd. Only in the third century the countenance of Christ was depicted for the first time—the countenance of the Risen One. When humanity was wrestling with questions about death, He appeared in countless representations as the Crucified One—the Man of Sorrows. And when there was nothing left but materialism, His image was reduced to Jesus, the simple carpenter from Nazareth.

Not long ago, a new image appeared, something that had not been seen in the history of Christianity before. In a short time, this picture became famous and went over the whole world. It is the sculpture of a poor man, a drifter, who is lying on a bench in the open air, covered with a coat. Only his bare, wounded feet betray who he is. “Homeless Jesus” is the title of this artwork. This image tells us what we did to Him: in our society there was no place for Him anymore. He has been banished from our daily life. What can we do in our time to give Him a place where He is at home?

HOMELESS JESUS, TIMOTHY SCHMETZ, 2013

Only once in His life on earth Christ showed Himself in His true form, in the overwhelming appearance of His Transfiguration on the mountain. When this image disappeared, the Father gave us a task for all time with the words: “This is my Son whom I love. In Him I have been revealed. Hear His word!”

Christ is no longer visible on earth. He leads a hidden, occult existence. But we can hear Him through the words He spoke, words that want to be weighed in our heart until our heart is moved by them. Or by the still voice in us, the Christ voice of conscience. Then we begin to walk with Him, and He with us. If we listen to His voice, He will find a place on earth where He can live.

-Rev. Bastiaan Baan, February 28, 2021

March 1, 2021/0 Comments/by CCNA

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