Community experiences

Thanks to TheCorner for the link to a marketing blog talking about the experience of community. You can “hate” marketing talk all you like, but one thing that marketing folk tend to do is listen pretty carefully to people in their intended market. This blog post reminds me that human beings are deeply relational creatures, and that we will find ways to be in relationship no matter what. If digital tools will help, we’ll grab onto them.

I think religious communities used to be a "tool" if you will, that helped people to build and sustain relationship. But more and more many religious communities are so closed in on themselves that people who are not already "in relationship" with them have no way to begin that process. Meanwhile, out in the larger world of social networking, there are zillions of examples of ways people are finding to "be together" with each other. My own experience with the CaringBridge site these past few days, as my brother-in-law goes through a liver transplant, and my friend Rolf endures cancer surgery, has been particularly interesting.