Small-town life needs plenty of nurturing. We who live in small towns find the community coming together at various businesses, at the post office, at school, and at church. When the pastors of the various churches come together for our regular meeting, we fulfill the expectation of the Second Vatican Council that Christians must act with mutual concern for one another, always remembering that we must seek the unity which Jesus intends for his people. Of all the adhesives which one might apply to bring together our small communities, there is nothing better than our shared Christian faith.
Do we discuss theology? Not very much. Our deeper discussions tend to focus on how our various Christian communions are ordered. We learn a great deal from one another about the differences between independent churches and those with national and international structures. As we discuss "the facts of life" of our individual Christian communities, we develop an appreciation of our shared Christian culture.
In union with our congregations, we seek to carry out the practical demands of the Gospel. Many of our congregations — or, perhaps, the larger community, independent of an official church connection — administer pantries for people in need of food. In one of the towns I currently serve, there is an "Area Service Association," with unofficial ties to the churches, which aids people who find themselves in immediate need — for instance, when there are outstanding utility bills.
In another of my current towns, the pastors share the duty of writing a "family devotion" for the weekly newspaper. I tend to base my devotions on the upcoming Sunday readings, since many non-Catholic ecclesial communities have more or less adopted the Catholic three-year lectionary cycle for Sundays.
From time to time, we organize worship services. Thanksgiving Day seems to be a very natural time for us to come together and to celebrate our identity as Christians and as Americans. In recent years, I have witnessed a revival of the practice of the "baccalaureate service," that is, a religious service on the occasion of high school graduation.
During the summer, Vacation Bible School is on the minds of many. (We all must keep in mind that VBS originated just a few miles north of our diocesan boundaries, in Hopedale, in 1894.) Occasionally, in a small town, one will see several, if not all of the churches, offer a VBS with the combined people-power and physical plants of participating congregations.
I was at a ministers' gathering recently in which we did go rather deeply into theology; for this I was grateful. As I looked around, I realized that I was the oldest person present. When you're the oldest person in a group, you cannot escape an awareness that time is fleeting and that the elders have much to pass on to younger colleagues. Our breakfasts are the occasion for profound things to develop. We open ourselves to the grace of God who helps us appreciate the utterly personal Christian faith which we share with fellow believers. We find ourselves happy to be companions on our journey of faith, giving thanks for what we have in common, trusting that our God will heal the wounds of division, and confident that there are many surprises yet to be beheld.