Saying "YES" in Community

It was my last night with the MaryKnoll Sisters. I joined them in a prayer service. It was a prayer service for Rosemarie Milazzo. She was preparing to meet her Christian Peacemaker Team in Amsterdam and travel with them together to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The team of 4 is going to be in the DCR for 3 months . They will be on the frontlines and in a country that is currently being ravaged by war. Their mission is a radical one and one in need of a community to pray, pray, pray. That is what the MaryKnoll Sisters did last week and will continue to do for Rosemarie, her team and the people of the DRC.

Rosemarie shared what she was preparing for. As she talked I felt from her a profound humility and a confidence in her own call to go and be a peaceful presence despite the conflict. There was an honesty about the unknown before her. I saw a human being before us not some untouchable "glorified" person.  Her authentic voice helped me to connect to the Christ at work in her. There was great concern in her and maybe even fear.  I don't know Rosemarie. I only met her.  My observations may not be "on target".  Yet from what I observed in that short evening was a woman who wasn't allowing her concerns and her fear to own her.   The known before her was that one-- God was absolutely with her and two-- that she was taking her community of sisters with her.

I’ve never been so aware of the power of community as I was in those moments. As she was preparing to go to a place of conflict her religious family was comiting her to God, praying for her now and promising to pray for her everyday. It seemed like this community added to Rosemarie’s strength. I may not be a MaryKnoll Sister but my presence at that prayer service somehow has placed Rosemarie and her mission on my mind. I’ve become a part of her community even as an acquaintance.  

The prayer service began and ended with a song titled, “The Summons”. The song asks some great questions.

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you love the ‘you’ you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around, though my sight and tough and sound in you and you in me?

Rosemarie is in the DCR today and in her own way she’s said, “YES”, to the Christian summons. Her “YES” has been an encouragement to me. It is a powerful thing to witness a life saying “YES” before you. The Sisters prayerful concern and support was a huge encouragement. I’m reminded how difficult it is to say “YES” to our Christian summons without the care of community. Can we radically follow Christ alone? Have courage to go to the unknown places alone? Care for our enemies alone? Love the parts of us we despise alone? Break from the fear that keeps us hidden alone? Live out the faith we’ve come to know alone? Maybe we do it for a while “alone” but it would this way isn’t sustainable. Community creates life in us. It nourishes our anemic faiths and empowers us to do more than we ever thought we could alone. The presence of Christ seems so much more alive in a people rather than in one solitary person. In community this summons comes to life.

I’m not sure what my future holds. Yet I know more today than I’ve ever known. I am saying “YES” to the summons of Christ on my life. And more than any other time in my life I know I can not sustain my “YES” without a community. We say YES together and we sustain YES together.