This is second in a series we are calling 'The Cloister in the cul-de-sac.' They are all about the principles of building community around us. Last week Charlie Deist and I focussed on the parish. This time we discuss how to create community around us outside the context of the parish. We do this by applying the principles demonstrated in the Acts of the Apostles in ordinary situations.

It is a spiritual paradox, that the best way to relieve my loneliness by by trying to relieve the loneliness of others. It is by offering fellowship to others that I get the sense of belonging I seek, regardless of the response of others. For it is in the trying we are successful and we are given the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, even if we are alone.