Community in Exile
When I first started my time here at Wesley, I didn’t expect to have a community here. Growing up in Southern California, I knew I had to overcome many things as I got settled here in Washington, DC: finding new friends, living with snow, dealing with traffic, all that stuff. I believed my time here on the East Coast was my self-imposed exile. I was just here to get my master’s and move back to the “Promised Land” that had all that I was comfortable with. But as I enter into the second half of my schooling, my perspective has changed. I have met people that I would never have met if I stayed comfortable in San Diego. I have shared conversations with those around me that have encouraged me to live in this land of self-imposed exile.
But I know this is only a small glimpse of what this community offers. I do not know many people here, and not many people know who I am. But the times in which I felt connected to this Wesley community happened in unexpected places. It was in random conversations over a meal in the Refectory that reminded me of the God that connects us to each other, despite where we come from or what we look like. It was in small comments made by professors and students during class that remind me I still have much to learn. We can never pinpoint how much of an impact a small gesture can make.
There’s a song by my favorite band, Thrice, that comes to mind, which references 1 Corinthians 13:12: “I am an exile, sojourner/ A citizen of some other place/ All I’ve seen is just a glimmer in a shadowy mirror/ But I know one day we’ll see face to face.” I still feel like I’m in exile. I still feel like a wanderer and a sojourner, and in some sense, I think we all have that mindset. We are dreaming of the church community that we will be charged with leading. We are also dreaming of the community in heaven that we will be a part of. We continue to see glimmers of that community throughout our lives and we long for that community to come as the days pass by.
But that doesn’t mean we can idly sit by and watch this community that we are currently a part of pass us by. It’s true that seminary was never meant to be a permanent community, and eventually, we will all be going our separate directions, wherever God may take us. But, while we are in “exile,” we don’t have to wait in expectation for the day that we enter into the place God has planned for us, both on this Earth and in heaven. In moments both big and small, we presently and continually grow in connection with God and one another. It is not right for us to remove ourselves from whatever community that we are placed in solely based on the fact that we are not feeling it.
I may view my time here on the East Coast as my “exile,” but I have come to accept that I am here to learn not just in an academic setting, but in a community setting as well. I have to admit that I have my tendencies to keep to myself most of the time, dreaming of things that are comfortable, but I am continually reminded that God has called me to be a part of something bigger and greater and to be present in the community I am surrounded by.
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