Where two or more are gathered, I am there among you" 
~Mathew 18:20

In another era, the Hellenistic era, there was the idea of having a relationship with the sacred Sofia.  In our modern way of thinking we associate Sofia with sound judgment, clear thinking, practical wisdom and intelligence, but that wasn't the original definition.  Sofia was to Plato like a muse. He courted her.  Socrates, in Plato's Apology, presents himself as a man who knows nothing and yet was among the wisest.  

The Sofia I am referring to is the wisdom of the gathered.  The gathered meeting. The spiritual being that joins with us when we are in a place, in person, and ready to approach the movement of spirit.  Where there is an intention. A waiting and yet no specific expectation.  A place of not knowing. 

This wisdom really has very little to do with modern thinking about wisdom.  It is more akin to a "positive knowing" about something.  Hard to pin it down, but when you hear a message in meeting that resonates on a deep level you have the feeling that you connected with something bigger than yourself and bigger than each person in the room.  

In a world drowning in information, technology and noise -- hearing the Sacred Sofia is a like a cool glass of water to the parched man dying of thirst.  

~ Joseph Olejak

To "listen" another's soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being ever performs for another. But in this scrutiny of the business of listening, is that all that has emerged? Is it blasphemous to suggest that over the shoulder of the human listener, there is never absent the silent presence of the Eternal Listener, the living God? For in penetrating to what is involved in listening, do we not disclose the thinness of the filament that separates persons listening openly to one another, and that of God intently listening to each soul?
         
~ from Gleanings by Douglas V. Steere

 ~ submitted by Richard Russell

It is ironic that often it is in the church where we are least open and honest with each other, unable to share and deal with the concerns that touch people most deeply. Part of the meaning of fellowship is to know and be known by others. Within this fellowship we should be able to share from the depths of our souls. There should be no pretending. Before God all our attempts at self-protection are worthless anyway. We cannot fool God and it is questionable whether we will fool others either….
         
In community we can take off the masks and give up defense mechanisms, as they are no longer needed. In community we can overcome the gap between our public face and private face, the difference between the way we act at home and the way we act with others. We can feel free to share both who we are and what we have, our strengths and weaknesses, assets and needs. We can completely give ourselves to each other.
          ~ Source: Arthur G. Gish, Living in Christian Community (Herald Press, 1979, p.65).
            From Plough article Communion, posted March 7, 2024, https://www.plough.com/en .
           
So, by Gish’s definition of community, is Old Chatham Monthly Meeting a true community? Hard to say, but certainly food for thought.

~ submitted by Richard Russell