Movement 134

The Gommunity lssue
We all have to live with each other. Like the man said, no
one is an island. But how does that work? Where do we find our
community? ln faith communities? ln ethnic groups? ln deliberate,
intentional communities that come together for a purpose? ln this
issue, we're looking at community from as many different angles
as we can fit in.
On friendship
I suppose I'm one of those people whose community is formed
around friends. When you're a teenager, you believe that your
friendships will endure forever, that they will never change.
lntro
They change. And sometimes you find that they've changed so
much that allyou have is history.
History binds and holds together bonds that should otherwise
have fallen apart. lt has to be the right kind of history. True, it can
do nothing more that remind you of painful experiences, but history
can also cover a multitude of sins.
You meet new people all the time. The pace of meeting new
people slows as you get older, but you do meet them. Sometimes,
they're people you can trust and you form these new friendships,
get new history. There are people I haven't known so long who I
count as very close friends, because we already have history.
I find myself thinking about this kind of thing at this time of year
because I write on the third anniversary of the day on which we
heard that SCMer and friend Mike Blakey had died, suddenly, far
away. I think a lot about how these things we say and do touch each
other's lives and shape them and mould them, and how valuable
are the relationships we have with those we share this common
history with, this common story of our lives.
And how suddenly it can be ended, how quickly it can all be
taken away.
Symon says
It's lovely to have Symon Hill, an old friend of SCM and
Movement, begin his new column with us. Once, a long time ago,
an employee of SCM, Symon is perhaps best known now for being
the face of the campaigning organisations who took the British
Government to court over their handling of the BAE Systems/Saudi
Princes scandal. He's now an associate director of Ekklesia and
works as a trainer and consultant. We're looking forward to seeing
more from him.
Pope Benedict lends a hand
So. That business with the pope offering refuge to disgruntled
Anglicans. ls he poaching the faithful or generously offering
to take the CofE's homophobes and misogynists off our favourite
Archdruid's hands? We don't know. We think Gartield Spengler has
an idea, in the first of a new series of Spengler Reports, freshly
thrown through the window of the SCM office, tied to a breezeblock.
Which is no mean feat, given that the SCM office is on the
third floor. But frankly, it's hard to tell. See what you think.
Wood
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