Pioneer Paths: Gathering Courage from the Founders’ Journey
By Claire Jerram
Cover painting by Laura Summer
It was Advent. I had spent all the autumn in a state of expectation. Like millions of eighteen-year-olds ready to leave the nest, I could not begin what was for me my mid-life change of course. The Canadian border, which stood between me and the The Seminary of the Christian Community in North America, remained closed. My six fellow “Knowing Christ” seminary classmates and I waited in our respective homes, attending to the distance learning course online, reading and studying on our own. The continuing students in the “Walking with Christ” program did the same. I stayed close to the altar in my Christian Community congregation in College Park, Maryland, serving, attending all the studies, gleaning everything I could from and about the sacraments. The seminary had entertained various plans, but had only found a temporary home for the ordination candidates, not the rest of the group.
Suddenly, my classmate emailed me that we were going to start the seminary after all. In six weeks. Not in Toronto, but in Hillsdale, New York. Something felt different about this plan from the previous ones. It had the feel of “going to happen”. In our study of the gospel of Luke in College Park, we had been reading Jesus’ advice to the disciples when He first sent them into the world to do His work. He told them to take no change of clothes, no food, no money, and to stay in the first house where they were received. If the disciples could do this, surely my husband and I could cram what we could into our Honda Fit and drive north. We were received graciously by the Nature Institute, who offered four of us an apartment in Philmont, New York. Our liaison to the institute, Nathaniel Williams, even left flowers on the table for us!
We spend a lot of our time driving the country roads between our apartment in Philmont and the church in Hillsdale. During our usual Greek study group time, four of us had to instead pick up a classmate’s car which had been unexpectedly towed. In the truck, we played hangman in Greek, at first with no paper, then on the back of a grocery list:
Is there a sigma?
No sigma.
A Kappa?
Two Kappas.
After more vowels and consonants added…
Ekklesia! -- (which means gathering or church)
The original pioneers overcame various hurdles to bring the Christian Community to birth. I recently read Growing Point by Alfred Heidenreich. He describes how, in the aftermath of World War One, inflation and poverty made gathering a challenge. During the final two weeks that Steiner spent with the forty-some would-be priests in Breitbrunn, Germany, the younger folks slept in barns at night. Alfred Heidenreich slept in a bakery loft over the oven. The warmth attracted cockroaches which crawled on the ceiling all night. He slept fitfully, wondering if one of them might fall on his head.
Fewer details are shared from the most difficult times in the history of the movement. When in 1941 the Christian Community was forbidden by the Third Reich, some priests went to other countries, some priests went to prison, some had to take other jobs. Some continued to celebrate the sacraments in secret. Contact with the worldwide movement came to a halt. Looking back, we see that those limitations lasted only for the duration of the war and its aftermath. But during the war, no one knew how long it would last, or if they would ever again be allowed to celebrate their sacraments. They lived in great uncertainty of the outward course of events.
I have found inspiration in these early stories for our way. We have no idea where we will be in October for our next year, whether in Hillsdale, Toronto, in a barn or a truck. I feel hopeful that we can continue somewhere, somehow. One of the “Knowing Christ” students who lives in England has still not been able to come, due to travel restrictions. In all times, a person of spiritual orientation must learn to live with this uncertainty of outer circumstances. We may see it as an opportunity to begin to build our “house” on the solid rock of inner work. For surely He who has promised to stay with us to the end of the earth, will not abandon us now. Rather, He will be even more present with us than at times when things are settled.
About the Author:
Claire Jerram is a former Waldorf teacher who now runs a gardening summer camp out of her home in Baltimore. She loves to dance the Five Rhythms. Here is a picture of her at the Grand Canyon in 2016.
This is a blog entry by a student at The Seminary of the Christian Community in North America. These are posted weekly by the student editorial team of Robert Bower, Shannon Young and Faith DiVecchio. For more information about our seminary, see the rest of our website, and for even more weekly podcast and video content check out the seminary Patreon page.
The views expressed in this blog entry do not necessarily represent the views of the Seminary, its directors or the Christian Community. They are the sole responsibility of its author.
