Justin Nickel-USC 05-06, Ogden Community
"Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling." 1 John 2:10 (NRSV)

It would seem completely predictable that one would start a reflection on the meaning of intentional community with a quotation from Scripture about love, and this is not entirely inappropriate. After all, the Scriptures form our sense of calling in an ultimate way and provide the context necessary for us to connect the often mundane and perfunctory tasks of our daily lives to the divine. Indeed, this passage, when applied to the life of intentional community makes a rather strong statement. While our culture is flooded with hyperbolically sentimental notions of what love is, what it means and how it functions, it is my opinion that these conceptions of love lack the depth and commitment which characterize true love. In a certain sense, that is what drove me to the life of intentional community. In a time and place where we are becoming increasingly isolated by the same technologies which theoretically connect us, there is a yearning to actually connect to other people in a real, human way. To connect to one another in a way which is counter to the culture which seeks to comodify everything, including our relationships. To connect to one another in a way which feels like we are participating in the life of God, who comes to us as community. In short, we are looking to love.

Though life in intentional community was from time to time a struggle, often exhausting and always a challenge, I look back now at those struggles and wonder why I was surprised by them. Isn't that the cost of true love? Struggle is part of any human relationship, and love is the perseverance to see through that struggle. That is perhaps the greatest lesson I learn last year. Love costs, but that is the call of being a Christian. We have been set free from the claims of power that order the world, and our only charge is to love with the recklessness with which Christ loves us. In my mind, intentional community is a powerful manifestation of this reckless love.