Vol. 44, No. 3 February 27, 2017

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If we’re talking about solidarity—being All In, being of one mind, being of one heart—I think it’s a perfect time to bring up the Science Fair. Yes, the Sci-ence Fair. In the Science Fair, the goal is to test one variable at a time. You iso-

late a single variable and control every-thing else.

Over the course of seven consecu-tive Science Fairs, I gleaned one key principle, and here it is: all of life should be modeled in precisely the same man-

because it came on the heels of our move into our new house, at a time when we were still up to our eyeballs in boxes, on the day Tim came down with strep throat and Ainsley woke up vom-iting, the day that just happened to be the day before our new washer arrived, and a full four days before the dryer made its appearance.

Science Fair, strep throat, stomach bug, no washer, no dryer—I ask you, where was that sterile petri dish? This was real life, messy and complicated, life that did not come one variable at a time.

In the midst of real life, how do we think about solidarity, about being All In? Here are eight thoughts to consider.

I. Invest in Our LifeIn the atrium, we use timelines

that always end with a blank page. This is the page that we write together with God. God has work for each one of us. Subsidiarity tells us that if we don’t do it, one of two things will happen: either someone else will do more, or the work won’t get done.

Let’s think about our monthly work parties. If our men and boys don’t show

Solidarity—Being All In

ner as the Science Fair. Let’s face one variable at a time. Let’s control everything else. Life in a petri dish!

Sadly, this is not my life. It is not your life. We don’t live commu-nity or family or church in a sterile petri dish.

Our solidarity does not come under attack when we’re well-rested and well-caffeinated and on top of things. Life doesn’t pinch when everyone is healthy and the weather’s fine and the laundry is in tip-top shape.

Science Fair 2015 is forever embedded in my memory, not be-cause of the amazing project produced, but

Kris Merschat, the sculptor who created and donated “Let the children come to Me” in the courtyard, was at the school Thursday, February 23, to properly install his work.

ACS Courtyard Receives New Sculpture

By Kelly Dolin

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up, one of three things will happen:1. Someone else will do more.2. The work won’t get done.3. We’ll pay someone to do the

work.Apply this concept to youth minis-

try, Trail Life, volleyball, the Orff band, the Robotics Club. If we don’t invest, someone else does more, or it doesn’t get done.

II. Our Investment Pays Dividends When we embrace the work God

has for us, we build friendships.Two years ago, we moved next door

to the Hall family. Between us, we have three little girls. There’s a lot of back and forth—so much back and forth that, at this point, Ainsley should be paying rent. Here’s the thing I’ve found with little girls: they get along just fine for about 42 minutes at a stretch.

It’s helpful that Colleen and I have a long history. Our friendship dates back to the Conkright Household, circa 1990. (Except that we can’t possibly be that old). We were YAMs together, in support group, women’s prayer group, years and years and years of carpooling when Tim was Timmy and Chris was Popher.

We have invested in each other. We have been All In. One of the many fruits of this is our ability to weather the inevitable storms.

III. Keep a Short Account I remember the day my middle

school student climbed into the van telling a tale of woe. Something had happened with a classmate for the sixth or seventh time. I jumped out of the van and tracked down Dennis (the principal),and poured out the story, agi-tated, frustrated that this seemed to go on and on. And when I was done vent-ing, Dennis said, “This is the first I’ve heard of this.”

He was right.Teachers, principals, and coaches

can address what they hear. We need to keep a short account. Obviously, there’s a balance here. We don’t need to go running to a teacher about every little thing, but we do need to keep a short account and not let resentment build up until we explode. Subsidiarity says we need to forgive and to ask forgive-ness to keep our relationships healthy and whole. We can’t be All In with a stream of fractured relationships.

IV. Bring Your Input and Bring It to the Right Person

A while back, the Pastoral Team was meeting after the birthday weekend. Carolyn Clark brought up the crowded conditions at the Lord’s Day Meal. This led to a thrilling, sixty-minute on the subject of toilets. You probably didn’t know there was so much to say about toilets. If you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall during Pastoral Team meeting, this was clearly the meeting to attend.

Two things came out of our dis-cussion—a short term fix and a longer term solution. At the next Lord’s Day Meal, the guest list was shorter in order to relieve some of the overcrowding. That was the short term fix. That con-versation also led us to a long term solu-tion—the renovation of the gym bath-rooms that will happen down the road.

When a draft calendar came out, some of the women noticed that the Fall Fare was scheduled for late September when volleyball is in full swing and the weather remains beastly hot. Nobody wants to sit at a table full of pumpkins and drink hot chocolate when it’s 97 degrees. Someone provided input. The Fall Fare was rescheduled.

Being All In means taking respon-sibility for things to go well. Your voice matters. It may be the only voice. Bring your input and bring it to the right per-son.

V. Praise Publically – Correct Privately

When the volleyball team wins a tournament, put it on Facebook! In-undate the Internet with photos and shout outs. If you think the Little Sis-ters’ T-shirts are the ugliest Little Sis-ters’ T-shirts in the long history of Little Sisters’ T-shirts, don’t share your thoughts on Instagram. Social media is not the place to adjust anyone or any-thing. Pray, calm down, contact the right person, and do it privately.

VI. Do What We’re DoingOur covenant includes the line,

“This is the path God has chosen for our sanctification. We willingly ask him to use it.” We’ve chosen this path. In faith, we believe it is a channel of grace. We move forward corporately only when we act corporately. If half of us don’t read a book we’ve adopted, if a third of us don’t attend a retreat, if a quarter of us don’t participate in sup-port group, well, is there really any “us” to speak of?

(To this paragraph, please add a dozen disclaimers about sickness, preg-nancy, travel, age, etc. that impact our ability to do what we’re doing.)

VII. Keep in Mind a Simple Thought: Behind Every Decision Is a Person

Behind every decision—the good ones and the ones we view as “ill-con-ceived”—is a person.

Remember Father Emmerich? Fr. Emmerich is a master at identifying hu-man foibles. He talks about Christians from every walk of life—the monk looking across the chapel at his fellow brothers, the mother surveying a van full of her children, the office manager staring at cubicles of employees—and each and every one of them is thinking with absolute conviction, “You know, I’d be really holy if it weren’t for you people.”

I remember a talk—I think it was by Harriett McBride—about an elusive household member whose first name was “Some” and whose last name was “Idiot.” As in Some Idiot left the milk on the counter. Some Idiot put clothes in the dryer but never turned it on. Some Idiot parked behind me again.

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Solidarity—Being of One Mind

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Well, most of us would have to ad-mit that Some Idiot has made the oc-casional appearance in our homes. You pull a note out of a backpack and say, “Some Idiot decided to schedule an all-day field trip to Timbuktu the day of the All Saints’ Party.” When we fall into the “Some Idiot” mentality, we need to choose to remember that behind every decision is a person—a brother, a sister, a neighbor, a friend.

“Some Idiot” just might be the woman who brought dinner when you had a baby. “Some Idiot” just might be the brother who jumped your car when your battery was dead. “Some Idiot” just might be the pastor who counselled you through a rough patch in your marriage.

We can’t devour one another. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Behind every decision is a per-son. Put a neighbor’s face on every ar-ticle, every decision, every talk.

VIII. Seek Ye First the Kingdom of GodWe have to be fueled by a vision to

build this life. Without a vision, a peo-ple will perish; a school will fall into disrepair; a neighborhood will cease to thrive.

The Holy Spirit restores, unites, and heals, sometimes through us, sometimes despite us. The devil di-vides, separates, and isolates. He wants to back us up onto a cliff. Really, he’d love for us to jump. Barring that, he’s perfectly content to leave us there iso-lated, fearful, and alone.

But we’re here to talk each other down, to share the reason for our hope, to encourage and to fortify, to assist each other in becoming men and wom-en of prayer, people of faith, hope, and love, believers of valor and fortitude uniquely equipped to face the challeng-es of this age.

This is our task in community. This is our life’s work. No one captures our ultimate goal better than the late Father Dubay who, in a paraphrase of 1 Corin-

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This Dove article highlights the Joe Almeter Support Group, otherwise known as “The Farm” support group. Most of our support group meetings start with a common meal at someone’s house. After an hour of feasting (the women make excellent food) and fel-lowship, we have a time of worship and then we listen for what the Lord is tell-ing us. We usually read a Gospel passage and reflect on it. We share uplifting sto-ries, which often include Leo Suer tell-ing us about the random strangers he prays over in public places. Joe Almeter also makes it a point to pass on any im-portant information from the Pastoral Team and the Elders to keep us in the

know. Our meeting always ends with praying for the sick and needy.

Currently, we are composed of the Joe Almeter family, Mike Almeter fam-ily, Jerry Germann family, Pat Molitor family, Mike Molitor family, Leo Suer family, and Bob Visintainer family.

As a support group, we do a number of activities more informally outside the meeting. They often involve the surrounding children and grandchil-dren who are related to people in the support group, but not all are members of the Community. All of the kids are homeschooled by their mothers, and they usually like to play with each other in the afternoons after they finish their school work. The mothers work hard to keep homeschool exciting. Today (Feb 13th), Eric Mautchke is coming out to the Farm to do an experiential science lesson in a nature walk through the woods. All of the kids who are at least 4 years old and up can play the violin.

Joe Almeter shared how much he enjoys his son, Fr. Jacob Almeter, visit-ing about twice a month. When Fr. Ja-cob comes, Joe and Ngoc Anh’s house is converted into a chapel. The little chil-dren sit at the foot of the altar on the living room floor, while the adults sit in chairs toward the back of the room, and we have Mass. It is also a great honor to have Jerry Germann’s 96-year-old father, Deacon Al Germann, living on the farm with us. The little girls in the neighborhood have spent many hours with Deacon Al feeding Jerry’s bunnies and then going inside to learn how to make rosaries. Deacon Al is affection-ately known as “Grandpa Germann” by the children.

In the summertime, there are a lot of informal gatherings at Jerry and Kathy Germann’s pool where the kids like to swim on the hot afternoons. We usually have at least one cookout every summer with the support group and

The Joe Almeter Support GroupSolidarity—By Mike Almeter

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Making friends with a deer

thians 2:9, writes:“Our destiny is literally out of

this world. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard; indeed, it cannot even dawn on our unaided imagination the unspeak-able delight God has prepared for those who love him. Before this destiny, all worldly glitter is dull, all tinsel is cheap, all adventure is prosaic, all attraction is unsatisfying.”

Kelly Dolin is a Full Covenant member of Al-leluia Community and one of 23 Handmaids who give input to the Community Elders from a womanly perspective.

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© 2017 Alleluia Community, adm. by Alleluia Christian Service Center, Inc. P.O. Box 6805, Augusta, GA 30916-6805, (706) 798-1882. All rights reserved.

all the surrounding families at the Ger-mann’s pool.

Most of the actual farming on The Farm happens as a result of the hard labor of Jerry Germann who keeps ani-mals, a big garden, and helps maintain the Community’s property. A number of the women who are now grandmoth-ers also do a good deal of gardening in the summer. The younger men work in town and do not have a lot of time for actual farming, but they do spend a good deal of time teaching their children how to do basic homestead work, such as splitting firewood, fish-ing, leather work, proper use of fire-arms and knives, animal husbandry, etc. Some of the boys and girls keep a pocket knife on them as a normal part of their daily wardrobe, and they are pretty sharp shooters when it comes to target practice.

Just a few weeks ago, our support group hosted Joe’s brother “Danny’s” support group for a hayride and hot dog/marshmallow roast at Michael and Holly Almeter’s house. It was cold out-

side, but that didn’t stop the kids from taking full advantage of the wide open space to run around and play with each other. The older adults stayed warm inside by the wood stove. Mike Moli-tor did an excellent job carting every-one around The Farm on a hay ride. We always enjoy fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters from the Village.

On February 3rd, Pat and Shan-na Molitor hosted a Father-Daughter Dance in the top of their barn. They host this event about once a year. This year, all the little girls in the neighbor-hood had been waiting for weeks with such anticipation for this event. The barn never looked so good with all the beautiful decorations and delicious foods that were prepared. There were door prizes, lively music, and the danc-ing continued non-stop the whole eve-ning. The little girls donned their best dresses and fathers wore their best suits. I couldn’t help but be humbled and grateful as I reflected on the night and saw the beautiful love that these little girls have for their daddies.

Another wonderful thing that is happening is the resurrection of the old house next to the Alleluia Cem-etery. Ross and Jennifer Ott have been renovating it since they purchased it in 2012. Five years later, after many work

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parties involving the Joe Almeter sup-port group men as well as many broth-ers from Faith Village, the century old house has been transformed into a beautiful home for their family. Keep the Otts in your prayers so that they can complete the finishing touches and move out to The Farm as soon as Easter this year!

At a minimum, I hope that this ar-ticle has helped you to see that Dearing is much more than just a final resting place. As much as we love and care for the cemetery, the Farm is also a place that is full of life! So don’t let your next trip to Dearing be your last. Plan a visit with those of us who are still living. We love our city-folk brothers and sisters, and you are always welcome to come out and “waste time” with those of us at the Farm.

Eric Mautchke leading our children on a nature walk through the woods

Visiting the Alleluia Cemetery.(The Ott house is in the background.)

The Dan and Joe Almeter Support Groups enjoying a hayride

Support Group