Contemplating the Sacred Community
Plus Community/Text Talk updates
One of the primary goals of this substack community is to reflect on what I want from this next season of life - this early phase of retirement when I am still active, contributing, and participating in life. I hope that others will find these reflections useful/interesting. This reflection led me to read Elizabeth Oldfield’s Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times because she makes the case through both her book as well as interviews and podcasts that we should regularly check in with our communities, practices, and texts to make sure that they are helping us live the lives we want to live. She is also very honest that this is often challenging and difficult work, but the payoff is tremendous.
To be clear, Oldfield is a practicing Christian who holds the Bible as a sacred text and worship as a sacred practice and belongs to a faith community which she also holds sacred. However, various episodes of her podcast and other interviews/conversations with her that I have heard I am inspired to expand my definition of sacred (with all due respect as well to literary chaplain Vanessa Zoltan and the Vibe Check podcast):
sacred, the power, being, or realm understood by religious persons to be at the core of existence and to have a transformative effect on their lives and destinies (Britannica)
Like Oldfield I do believe in the traditional sacred. I was raised a Presbyterian (USA) and was married in that church by the pastor who was both my Sunday School teacher and youth group leader. I am ordained as a Presbyterian elder and a deacon of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and I chose to raise my son in a church so he could see a wide range of examples of how to live in a community of faith. But parenting taught me that community is sacred. My husband and I raised our son hundreds of miles from his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and extended family, so we had to form our own village to support his journey to adulthood.
I have also learned through my almost 60 years of life (May 21 if you want to start planning the celebration now) that the best of living involves multiple sacred communities and many of those will not be rooted in a church. My previous posts here (Reading in Community, Watching in Community, and Writing in Community) have introduced some of those sacred communities. I am struck by this part of Britannica’s definition: transformative effect on their lives and destinies. I have been fortunate throughout my life to belong to sacred communities that transformed my life and destiny. Have you? Do you think only family and religious communities can be sacred or do you agree with me? Clearly this definition will be very personal.
Oldfield reminds me that even our sacred communities are not static. Some will stagnate, some will transform as members evolve or move on, and we may find/form new communities. Also, our sacred communities require tending (some more than others) and others are only meant to serve us during a particular season. I do not have a gift for preserving my sacred communities from previous seasons, but that does not make them less precious to me and my life journey. I do hope to make reaching out to those communities a part of my of retirement practice. Even if we cannot recapture the level of intimacy we once shared it will be a delight to catch up. An important part of my goal of Fixing Me in 2026 is attending to my sacred communities by drawing inspiration from the trees to exchange information, share resources, and warn of dangers.
Thinking about sacred communities inspired me to challenge the Rebel Cartographers to write about their own community practices and the Lexington Poetry Gauntlet sent me on a quest to write my own mantra for my practice retirement which took me to three Lucille Clifton poems: turning, blessing the boats, and won’t you celebrate with me. May you also find inspiration for reflection and/or writing in these Lucille Clifton poems. I hope you will stop by the chat to share your thoughts about sacred communities, trees, and/or Lucille Clifton!
Community/Text Talk updates
Before I share my community/text talk update I want to return to to literary chaplain Vanessa Zoltan and the Vibe Check podcast to discuss the idea of sacred texts and modern scriptures. Zoltan suggests that any text that you want to shape your life and to learn from can be a sacred text. She argues that the more attention you give the text the more gifts it can give you.
I have long believed in the power of sacred texts (see Superman Saved Me, What Stories do you love?, and Humanity and History to name a few examples). Some of the most powerful teaching/writing experiences I’ve had are when we share our love stories for sacred modern texts including music, books, movies, and television. I never tire of hearing my students share their sacred texts and I hope you will share yours in the chat.
And now for some updates!
Reading in Community: I am enjoying Fable (a reader app that is independent of techbros) and have brought some of my students to join as well which is fun. I’m slowly making connections there as well. Check out what I’m currently reading and what I’ve read (the graphic above hits the January highlights - note the completed list often glitches for me and requires going back and then viewing again). Not sure if my review system is helpful to anyone but basically if it is a text that is sacred to me (Lonesome Dove) or might be (True Grit/Wild and Precious) then I give it a 5. I also give a 5 if I think I might revisit again for fun (Mercedes Lackey work for example).
Watching in Community: Another benefit of Fable is in addition to connecting over books we can also connect through TV so I’ve been able to rave about old shows I only recently watched (Murderbot, Mare of Easttown, and Task - note currently watching Down Cemetery Road) but also discuss more current shows (Pitt and Bridgerton). In addition, my husband and I are progressing with the Pantsuit Politics Book and Film Club and have watched The Shadow Riders, The Chase, and Train Dreams. Our son and I are amazed that he is still along for the journey! You can always follow my movie watching habits via Letterbox. I’d love to build that community too! In addition, I am following the New Rockstars Road to Doomsday (somewhat as you can see from Letterbox).
Writing in Community: The past week was a big one for writing in community. Last Saturday was the first meeting of the Lexington Poetry Gauntlet 2026 cohort. Two thumbs up. This week I also got to go to campus (in my favorite classroom no less) to write with pre-service teachers and one of my friends to kick off preparations for some teen writing programs. See Life Practices and Someday I’ll Love for recent writing inspirations/invitations.
Please let others know about Deanna’s Third Act/Space and don’t hesitate to reach out via chat!