Listened to a great presentation the other evening by Andrew Harvey, author of Way of Passion: a Celebration of Rumi, who has launched a new network called ‘networks of grace,’ www.networksofgrace.org.

It’s patterned after Al Qaeda, believe it or not — because as Harvey said, while the aims of that terrorist organization are abominable, it is very effective. One reason for its effectiveness — it operates on the basis of small cells of six to 15 people.

So Harvey has set up his new networks on the same basis.

In his new book, The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism, Harvey quotes Bill McGibben in The New York Review of Books: “The technology we need most badly is the technology of community, the knowledge about how to cooperate to get things done. Our sense of community is in disrepair.”

Harvey calls for sacred activists to “learn to work together and to form empowering and encouraging ‘networks of grace’ — beings of like heart brought together by passion, skill and serendipity to pool energies, triumphs, griefs, hopes and resources of all kinds.

“When people of like mind and heart gather together, sometimes miraculously powerful synergy can result.”

I’ve been thinking about this. I certainly long for a new experience of community. I believe many people do.

I appreciate what traditional organizations and institutions offer — senior centers, chambers of commerce, churches, and so on. But I believe the Truth in each one of us longs for something leaner, more nimble and more intimate — more capable, perhaps, of accommodating the ever-changing pulsation of spirit.

I wonder. I wonder if right now, in this very moment, as I’m working on this new post, I can take a baby step and simply say how interested I would be in the possibility of creating a “network of grace” with others of “like heart.”

Let me know, won’t you, if this notion causes even a stir of interest? Would love to talk with you about it a bit more.

Picture credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stop_imagine

A math teacher named David Benke was on parking lot duty outside Deer Creek Middle School in Jefferson County, Colorado when he was faced with a split-second decision.

A man with a Winchester bolt action rifle was standing many yards away from the parking lot outside the school entrance. He had shot one student and was busy reloading his gun so he could take aim at another.

What was Benke going to do?

Benke, 6’ 5”, immediately raced across the street from the parking lot, sprinted up the path toward the gunman, and tackled him with help from another teacher, Norm Hanne. In all, two students were wounded before the shooter was pinned down and assistant principal Becky Brown grabbed his rifle… but how much worse it might have been.

Dependability mark of true character

Following the shooting, Benke said courage came without question because of the training that has become standard for teachers and administrators since the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School — and because he remembered that he had vowed to do whatever he could if he were ever confronted with a dangerous situation.

“What was going through my mind,” Benke said, “was that I promised.”

Dependability.

It is one of the key ingredients of true character, divine character.

Dependability critical to our happiness and inner peace

Dependability is not only critical if we are to handle these troubled times effectively — it is also critical to our own inner happiness and well-being.

Not all of us will find ourselves in a life-and-death situation requiring immediate, spontaneous action on our part.

But as far as life is concerned — as far as God is concerned — we are on the spot in every moment to be dependable. It doesn’t matter whether the moment seems important or not.

Life always asks the same question. “Are you going to be dependable? Are you going to be true to the true nature of your own being?”

It’s part of our contract with the universe, you might say.

The fruits of dependability

Want to have a good feeling at the end of your life? Want to feel that your life was worthwhile, that you made a difference in the world?

Heck, want to have a good feeling at the end of the day or the end of the week?

Don’t get too hung up on how important your role is, or how many things you’ve accumulated in your life.

Water the seed of dependability that is in you. Care for it.

Be dependable in big things and little things, because dependability is a very special kind of seed. It grows slowly, like all seeds, but it is one of the most potent seeds there is — and if we care for it properly, why, we will discover that its fruits are the most beautiful fruits that there are in all existence.

An apology to readers

A couple of months or so ago JoAnn and I woke up one morning and realized that it was time for us to downsize and move back to Denver so that we could be closer to her family. It was a big turning point for us, and preparing for this move has inevitably put pressure on other priorities, such as my blog.

I have managed to still bring out one post a week, but my schedule has been a bit uncertain and erratic, for which I am sorry. I want to be more consistent from now on so that you know where you stand. Eventually, I hope to write a minimum of two posts a week, but for the moment I intend to publish a post each Thursday.