What a Wonderful Aurora

I was just in Elkhart for three and a half weeks, and it was incredible. I biked around 350 miles, I did a bunch of yard work, and I made a lot of new friends. Most of the biking was to and from Goshen to visit some new and old friends. I stayed at Morgan's house at Goshen College. Stayed is a pretty weak word, I think lived is much more appropriate.

What a life it was! For one, it was really reviving to be in a Mennonite college context again. It was nice to be accepted and loved the way I came. After all the biking, I'm sure I didn't smell good whenever I was there and I generally didn't have clean clothes for the time I spent sitting around all of the next day talking, reading, eating and sleeping. The most amazing part about Aurora House was that my lovely house mates expressed their affection for each other very easily and openly. I think the physical closeness and acceptance that they showed each other is one of the most powerful tools around for building community. I think physical contact is directly related to trust and, obviously, love. It was great to see their honesty in sharing joys and sorrows and how they relied on their house community when they had things to deal with. Apparently they had house meals almost every day during the school year. The one that I got to be a part of was a perfect time for them to build relationships and identity as a group. That kind of life, the kind where you're living every day, is an blessing that is worth so much.

When there was a Critical Mass bike ride in Elkhart, seven of the Aurora community showed up. We went to my house and had a bonfire with Jubilee House (the Mennonite Voluntary Service House in Elkhart) members. I experienced another great community builder there as we sat around the fire and sang all of the good singing songs we could remember. Like my opening post on this blog, I want to fill beautiful and ugly places with powerful and weak voices joining in song. Acceptance, belonging, physical contact, group meals, singing.... all of that is a dream, one that feels like heaven to me.