a rough draft

The Church of the Holy Introvert is a community of practice.

We practice love. We practice loving ourselves so that we can better love each other. We practice loving each other so that we can go out and love the world.

We practice speaking with confidence and listening with attention and curiosity. We believe that every person has a story worth hearing. And every person has something to teach.

We practice humility, in recognition of the fact that the questions we are struggling with are universal, even if our vocabulary and rituals are not. We critically examine our own stories and assumptions.

We practice trust. We acknowledge our desire for security and but resist the impulse to turn inward and shut out the world. Our doors remain open and newcomers are always welcome.

We believe that connection and storytelling are much too important, and much too hard, to be left for the coffee hour after church. We look for processes that facilitate honestly, deep connection, and conversations that matter.

We believe that we can always learn and we can always grow. We strive to be adults, but never grownups, because growing - in wisdom and experience and grace but most of all in understanding ourselves - is something we'll continue to do as long as we live.

We sing and dance and play and eat together, because joy gives us energy to do the hard work we need to do.

And then we probably go take a long walk or go home and sit by ourselves because we are, after all, introverts.