Disorientation

So we're finally back from orientation! We spent a week in Stony Point, New York at the Stony Point Center (very aptly named) and got to meet the other 60-some odd other Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs). We are mostly 20-something folks trying to figure out what our next step is in life who want to do meaningful work that will hopefully help the world. These are the hippie progressive Christian folks with beards that love social justice, talking about owning privilege, and have probably at least dabbled in liberal arts educations.

These are my people.

The first workshop we had to attend was about cultural awareness and competency. That is a nebulous phrase that encompasses living within and among other cultures and working to understand and respect them, not change or belittle them for their differences. Side note: my #1 reason for loving being Presbyterian is that we value loving, knowing, and respecting people of all walks of life, religions, and cultures over trying to convert and evangelize them. That's quite a break from the dogma I grew up with in more conservative religious settings outside of my home church. Embracing difference in belief is a wonderful thing, not a source of fear for someone's eternal destination. How liberating is that!?!?

Grace is a beautiful idea. We heard a lot of beautiful ideas this week and I met a lot of beautiful people. People that are open about who they are and others who have backgrounds that I will never be able to fully understand. I think grace has a lot to do with that; everybody deserves a place at the table, regardless of any of their adjectives.

We have another week of orientation, but this one will be in New Orleans. I'm finally back and it feels so good to be here. My 7 housemates and I will be living in "intentional community" which is a terrifying phrase for living with other people in a supportive place where we'll share a food budget and housing chores. It's also more than that; we'll be responsible to and for each other and we'll meet regularly to talk through things. I swear it's not a nudist colony or a nursing home for old maids in young bodies.

I've also been up all night traveling so this is probably reading more like James Joyce than Elizabeth Gilbert. Though I was really more going for a mixture of Joan Didion and Tina Fey with a respectful religious slant.

At any rate, watch this video and be merry.