We gather together

Thanksgiving is the great gathering day. The trouble and expense we undertake in order to be together on Thanksgiving is remarkable.
Our granddaughter, a sophomore at NYU, rode the subway, walked a good distance carrying her luggage, stood in line, then flew in from New York to have dinner with us. That’s not only remarkable, it’s wonderful.
Of course it wasn’t just any dinner. The turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes and special rolls and all the rest were topped off with grandma’s home baked Gravenstein apple pie. We had pumpkin pie too, but grandma’s apple pie is granddaughter’s favorite, and if she’s coming all the way from New York to be with us, grandma says, we’ll have apple pie too. Thanksgiving is that kind of day.
But it’s not just the food, is it? I hear they have pretty good food in old New York, if all you’re interested in on Thanksgiving is food. It’s being together around the table that makes it wonderful. And so, like millions of others, we gathered together and were grateful it was so.
Evolutionary sociologists tell us that gathering together is basic to being human. Our survival as a species was greatly abetted by our tendency to form caring communities, they say. For most of human history, religion or some kind of spiritual expression has been central to this kind of community. In the western tradition, the Jewish synagogue arose to keep the old traditions alive and to shelter people from harsh realities. Christian churches and Islamic mosques are modeled after the synagogue. The word synagogue means, simply, a gathering.
For at least 2,500 years, virtually all people in the western tradition gathered in their synagogues, churches, or mosques, prayed, sang, heard the faith proclaimed and formed caring communities. But these days, in Europe, Australia and New Zealand but 5 percent to 8 percent of he people are in church or synagogue in any given week. The percentage in Canada isn’t much higher, I’m told. And from what I read, even here in the land of mega churches, total religious observance is in decline. Important scholars are asking if the human race can survive and prosper without some of the structures, understandings and sense of community religion has provided and we humans have relied upon throughout our evolutionary journey to these times.
Interestingly enough, there are reports of avowed and dedicated atheists coming to feel something is missing in their lives now that they no longer go to church or synagogue. In January of last year, two British comedians, Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, called for people to assemble in an unused church in north London. Three hundred people showed up. Apart from any theology, they sang songs, told stories, shared lives and received and gave support. They soon needed a larger hall.
They dubbed themselves the Sunday Assembly, and by April 2013, Sunday Assemblies were gathering in 30 cities in the UK, the USA, and Australia. They set out to establish a congregation in every town, city or village that would like one, and they expected to have 100 going by the beginning of the 2014. I think they probably made it. There are Sunday Assemblies in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and San Diego that I’ve heard about. Their motto is “live better, help often, wonder more.”
Now isn’t that something? It would seem that the evolutionary sociologists have a point. We humans have a need to gather together. When we do, those who are overwhelmed with life’s troubles are in contact with those whose lives are full of blessings at the moment. Connections form, help is given and received, strength is gathered, and songs of joy and gratitude come forth.
Churches, synagogues, and mosques have done this for thousands of years, and other religious gatherings did it for thousands of years before that. This kind of caring community may be a divinely blessed thing, but, apparently, it’s also a very human thing. Perhaps the Sunday Assemblies are reminding us that if we become totally individualistic in thought, word and deed, if we disassociate ourselves from human community, and turn our backs on each other, we turn our backs on ourselves.
I haven’t heard of a Sunday Assembly in Sonoma County, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one springs up among us. From what I know of the West County, this is likely where it will happen.
Columnist Bob Jones is the former minister of the Guerneville and Monte Rio Community Churches.