Silence is polite in a library, I know, but I couldn’t help laughing out loud several times while going through issues of Stance. It was the mimeograph-made zine of the Community of Christ, the congregation I am writing a history of, from the mid-1960s until the early ’80s. In its pages appear dear departed saints who shaped my childhood, when they were younger than I am now. Walt Scarvie quips that a Lutheran convention he attended had the vitality of his chain-hotel salad. Dora is referred to in an author’s bio (written by an unnamed editor) as “probably the sexiest radical in the whole Community.” (That one elicited more of a “wow” type of laugh.)
I got misty-eyed also, wishing for one more conversation with Dora, or a chance to get to know Walt better. I felt the weight of trying to tell the stories of this community well, when so many of the core people are no longer living.
Who knew being a visiting researcher could be so emotional?
The Community of Christ’s archives are in Swarthmore College’s Peace Collection, which I visited in last month. The Friends Historical Library Reading Room gives the sense of being among giants of the movement for a more just world. Adding to this are the photographs of activists, including two of my heroes: Sojourner Truth and Bayard Rustin. (If you don’t know who Rustin was, I recommend Brother Outsider, a documentary about his life.)
Most Community of Christ members played relatively minor roles on the national stage with movements for equal rights and peace and justice. Yet what is clear to me in my research is that they discerned their gifts and vocations, seeking to offer what each uniquely could for the good of the world.
Gathered and Scattered update
My trip out East also included time in D.C. interviewing living members of the Community of Christ. Since these are people I grew up with, our time together spanned seeing each other in person for the first time since December 2019, catching up on our lives, and talking about Community history. My heart was full after each interview.
I also had a chance to attend the sending celebration for Dunstan and Barbara Hayden, two pillars of the Community who are moving to a retirement community. The outdoor gathering was a joyous time in the tradition of Community of Christ parties, which have been a feature of its common life since the beginning in 1965.
Reading and listening
“How Amazon became the behemoth it was designed to be”
“The bigger Amazon got and the more it dominated local labor markets,” writes MacGillis, “the less competition it faced for workers, and the less it needed to pay to hire them.”
My review of Alec MacGillis’s history of the tech giant was published in a recent issue of the Christian Century.
Leslie Woodcock Tentler, American Catholics: A History, New Haven: Yale University, Press, 2020.
I read this engaging book to better understand Catholics who became part of the Community of Christ. Even as a lifelong voracious reader of U.S. history, I learned a great deal I didn’t know about the role of Catholics in society.
A perennial favorite of mine is The Roots’ version of “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” from The Soundtrack for a Revolution. Whatever struggle you are engaged in right now, I hope the song inspires you to keep going.
So grateful to read some snippets of your life! I love a good library laugh :) Thanks for sharing.
Love, love, love! That you are doing this, being an observer-witness to the history and the humanity of life in community!