I’ve been exchanging emails with a lady in China. She’s getting ready to come visit me here in the states and we’ve been going through the “what do you do” phase of emails. Everything’s been going good so far…until…
Well, I mentioned to her that I was an intern at Koinonia Farms in southwest Georgia. Guess I should’ve thought a little more and remembered that there might be a cultural gap in that.
Her email to me today was unintentionally amusing. She asked what kind of doctor I was preparing to become…animal or human? I guess some folks and some cultures understand that if you’re an “intern” it automatically means you’re on your way to big bucks and medical malpractice lawsuits.
But it did give me an idea for today’s bLog.
Koinonia Farm is a Christian intentiona community in southwest Georgia, USA. Founded in 1942 by Clarence Jordan, his wife Florence and another couple, Koinonia’s original focus was race relations.
While the farm and the community has gone through some changes and ups and downs over the years, it is still an intentional community.
It is a rather long process to become a “steward” or “partner” here in the community. You begin the process by visiting Koinonia for up to two weeks. If you like the place and the people, then you can apply to come as an intern.
If being a steward or partner here is comparable to taking your wedding vows, then becoming an intern is kind of like that part of the relationship where you’re just starting to date someone. You’ve found someone with whom you’re interested in pursuing a relationship, but you’re not yet sure you want to spend the rest of your life with that person.
And while the marriage analogy is fairly accurate, it doesn’t tell the whole story. When you’re married, you can at least leave that person eight hours a day and get some space. And you don’t go home with your co-workers.
Here in community, we live, eat, work, breathe, play 24/7 with each other. While there’s 590 acres of space here, you never really get totally away from someone that rubs you the wrong way. So when Brendan has had enough of my foolishness in the garden, he’s still stuck with me…that’s what community is all about…as I see it. Learning to live communally with other Christians as the Bible teaches in the New Testament.
(Here’s some random pictures from around the farm and some of the neat people here)
As an intern, your daily schedule is pretty much like everyone else’s. Chapel at 8am followed by circle. Then chores and work assignments until noon. Following lunch there are devotions followed by more work and chores until 5pm. The farm bell rings at 10:30am, 3:30pm and 8:30pm to call us to prayer as a group. By the way, as an intern, part of my responsibility is to ring the bell for 8:30pm prayers…a task which I think I’ve remembered out of the three weeks I’ve been here.
Several nights of the week there are discussion groups which meet as well as study groups. Also in the evenings some folks take off to town for participation in community events, vigils and the like.
In addition to the chores and work assignments, interns have more to do.
Twice each week we meet with the Program Director, Bren Dubay. (More about her later). One meeting with her each week is for Spiritual Enrichment…kind of a time to check in with her and the other interns to see where we are in our “comfort level” with the program and to get any questions answers about the spiritual and/or community part of the program.
The other meeting each week with Bren is to discuss
- “The Cotton Patch Evidence”…
a history of Koinonia from the founding up until the early 70s or so.
And then it’s lights out until time to get up and start another day. All in all, not really a bad life. You can complete an Intern Application and send it in…who knows, when I get back from Maine in the fall, I just might see you here!
Or maybe not…
I just noticed something…see the picture at the top of this post? Well, that’s Bren. The title of this post is “Animal or Human”. That is in NO WAY a reference to Bren…honest!! I just can’t figure out how to format this thing! I hope when Bren sees this she understands and gets a laugh out of it…if she doesn’t then I’ll be banished to the garden forever.
Anyways, Bren is really a neat lady. She’s got a strong background in the theatre and has been a teacher as well. Somewhere along the way, she’s been a Spiritual Director also. All these talents and skills along with a natural “people” instinct have been mixed together in such a way to make her a powerful, dynamic lady.
I think if Clarence Jordan had’ve been born a woman, he would’ve been Bren. She seems to have the “steady as you go” attitude that I picture Clarence as having had…not too much ruffles her feathers…
Speaking of feathers, I saw something today that kind of sums up what Bren’s work here must be like. I was watching the geese in the field today before lunch. They were all lined up going somewhere.
The last goose in the line was following the one infront of him who was following the one in front of him and so on. I got to wondering…who or what is the lead goose following?
And then I realized…he wasn’t following anyone! He was staying in a hurry cause all these other geese would run over him if he stopped. Yuppers…everyone is following Bren and she can’t stop…
