The Community

Bustling Magnolia Plaza
The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens



The Garden
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

"I have to tell the truth: it doesn't take long in community to realize that people are broken and in need of repair. And the minute you realize this, you're liable to think, "I can name this person's problem much better than she can. And I know a thing or two about people. Maybe I can help fix her?" You do this because you love her, of course, and you want to see her get better. You want to see her back on the road, doing the things she was made to do. The problem is, people aren't like cars. We aren't made to run just fine on our own. We're made for community.

Which means we need something more like a garden than a repair shop. Of course, plants get sick just as cars get broken. I'm not saying that you don't get broken people in community or even that some people aren't more broken than others. But I am saying that broken people need what sick plants need. The need someone to tend to the soil around them, give them some extra attention, pull the weeds that threaten to choke them, and wait. It turns out in the end, I think, that we all need that sometimes or another. But the repair show won't do, because we're made for life in a garden. And the only way to grow up into life in the garden is to get your roots in good and stay there."

Source: New Monasticism