We are Llan

Pronounced with that strange, throaty, flem-hocking sound that English people find it so hard to verbalise, Llan is the new name for our embryonic, new monastic community. Sunday was a special day in the life of our little band of pilgrims, not only was it our first Palm Sunday together, but it was also the date of our very first not-a-church meeting. I say not-a-church meeting, because it definitely was NOT a church meeting. Nope. Church meetings (or PCC meetings, if you're more of the Anglican persuasion) are what traditional churches do, but this is pioneer church baby, we have to do everything differently. However, not-a-church meeting is a little bit of a mouthful, so instead we called it a 'community life' meeting.

Eight of us were present for this historic occasion. Eight wonderful, opinionated, passionate, out-spoken people all with their own thoughts, feelings, attitudes, moods, baggage and slightly different understandings of what on earth they were doing there. The agenda for the meeting was exciting and I had a very clear idea as to what we would have accomplished by the end of it. I was optimistic it was all going to be very straight forward.

I've often said that most of the world's (and Church's) problems would be solved if everyone would just agree with me. Unfortunately, our meeting was one more confirmation that the chances of this happening are slim to none. After we finally decided that the best way to decide on a name for ourselves was to have a vote (which necessitated a vote in itself), I was getting quite nervous that the name I thought would be the best one (obviously the one God was clearly leading us to) wouldn't be selected. I breathed a surruptitious sigh of relief when the vote came in very strongly in favour of Llan (if you want to know what Llan means, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llan_(placename_element).

A funny thing happened after this decision had been made. Finally, after 7 months of meeting together, we had a name. We had an identity. We were Llan. There was an almost palpable feeling of...connection in the room. It was as if that act of deciding on a name - which came from the collective group as opposed to being imposed by any one individual - was a kind of mortar that helped cement us together a bit more. We took one more step down the road of ownership, of community, of knowing who we are. The rest of the meeting was pretty chaotic, the subjects covered ranged from thinking about our diary to asking what each of us individually wants from Llan and how we might go about getting it (that was a fun one). Even as the desires, hopes and dreams of each person pelted my brain like stones that I despereately tried to gather up and hold together, I knew that in this crucible God was forming a small, humble, comparatively insignificant corner of his kingdom, but one with super-human potential. And that corner is called Llan.