SpokaneFāVS
On Saturday Spokane Faith & Values panelists will join our readers in a discussion about spiritual community.
What is spiritual community? Is it still needed?
Join us for this conversation at 10 a.m. at Revel 77 Coffee.
But first, we want to know, are you part of a spiritual community?
Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.
Is belonging to a Church, Synagogue, or Sangha belonging to a Spiritual Community? Or is a community more than an institution of religion or an organization? When is an organization or gathering group a community? What does a “community” really look like?
Maybe we have to have two questions when we approach this. Does belonging to a church or other spiritually based institution constitute being in a spiritual community? What does a “spiritual community ” look like? – OK – Make that three questions. Neighborhoods are sometimes called communities – so are apt complexes, etc. Has the term community been co-opted and lost its significance?
I think the definition can be operational Yisrael. That can be part of this morning’s conversation!