Considering Beauty

The theme that has threaded through the Good Neighbor Fellowship for me - showing up in the teachings and readings across a wide variety of speakers, hosts, and topics - is beauty. An early workshop on virtue asked us to be connoisseurs of the good and see the grandeur of God shining everywhere. In our reading focused on work, we contemplated our opportunities to bring order to things that are broken and unjust. We spent a recent morning considering that our lives (and especially our lives together) are our primary work of art. Throughout the spiritual disciplines we’ve implemented as a group, we’ve aimed for slowing and reflecting (something that I’ve only ever been able to prioritize with the support of a community!) which allow us to be open to the beauty of God. 

And it’s not only what we’ve read or said, but our embodied experience that has been beautiful:

the gift of a book of poetry from my mentor last week; gathering around a fire on a chilly evening and in a churchyard on a warm morning; the beauty of a delicious and colorful citrus salad prepared by someone I’d never met who welcomed us in and later ushered us out with leftovers; of people sharing their stories and getting to know them slowly and deeply; of thoughtful question prompts and even of the soothing colors and sleek fonts in our workbooks. 

I joined the Fellowship looking forward to building a community, and creating some space to thoughtfully make a new start here in Lancaster after a period of change in my life.

This first semester has been that community and space for me through offering these moments and reminders of a beauty worth building a life around.

Emily moved to Lancaster from Washington, DC in April with her canine sidekick, Fennec, and enjoys dancing, fencing, and the philosophy of science.

She works in multimedia production for the Society for Neuroscience and as an adjunct professor teaching video production and editing at York College of Pennsylvania.