Sojourners Magazine: December 2012

IN THIS ISSUE, we’re privileged to hear from an elder of the Sojourners community, Bob Sabath—one of the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School students who helped start Sojourners (then called The Post-American) way back in 1971. These days, Bob splits his time between honing Sojourners’ website architecture and being part of the Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community, tucked into the mountains of West Virginia. In our cover story, he offers his deeply rooted reflection on spiritual growth, of both communities and individuals. Though the interplay between personal and communal journeys involves tensions, its very messiness is spiritually fertilizing. “We are all broken, as individuals and as institutions. But what is broken is also part of our beauty and our gift,” Bob says. (Will Bob ever write a spiritual reflection on “website as cathedral”? We can only hope.)

In a companion article, C. Christopher Smith tells us about Slow Church, a conversation devoted to “recovering the joys and goodness of Christian faithfulness in a local church community.” Eschewing the temptations to go solo or to focus only on global change, Slow Church reminds us to see God’s abundance all around and God’s unique gift in every person.

We here at Sojourners have been blessed this year by the presence not only of elders, but of two very new people: James, born this June, and Gramercy, who arrived in August, courtesy of proud Sojourners moms. Although neither of these littlest Sojourners has offered to work on the website yet, they definitely foster community, producing impromptu staff gatherings whenever they pay a visit to our office. We’ve got our eye on them for the Sojourners intern class of 2034!

As Advent draws near and the mystery of God choosing to pitch a fleshy tent among us is once again made real, we wish you rich and abundant blessings, wherever you are in life’s journey.