The Wilderness Way Community is relationally-focused, practice-oriented, and rooted in the progressive Christian tradition. We envision a world where all beings are able to participate in abundant life, where sharing and sustainability are the norm, and where poverty, violence, and oppression no longer exist. Because we live in the context of empire-dominated cultural values, we seek to embody alternative values – what we call the Wilderness Way. The mission of the Wilderness Way Community is Enough For Everyone. We walk this Wilderness Way through a common commitment to practices grounded in the "wisdom of the wilderness." This "wilderness wisdom" is ancient in origin and broad in scope, grounded in scripture and incarnate in the rhythms and cycles of the natural world. It is the heart of Jesus' life and ministry, for he himself was rooted in the wilderness story of his people and his own sojourn through the wilderness. Wilderness wisdom, as we understand it, is three-fold: Sabbath, Jubilee, and Shalom. SABBATH:
Resisting the pressure to incessantly "do" and "produce" by
re-grounding oneself in the beauty, abundance and trustworthiness of the sacred
universe, in order to: * Rekindle creativity and passion for life. JUBILEE: Redefining how much is enough in a hyper-consumer society, in order to: * Restore value to life and relationships in a capitalistic economy, * Release ourselves and others from the burdens of debt, wealth or poverty, and * Reduce the negative ecological impact of our lives on the planet. SHALOM: Recognizing the inherent wholeness and unity of all creation, in order to: * Restore the birthright of all people to live without violence and to be treated with dignity, * Re-establish relationships of forgiveness and healing with others, including the earth and those who may be considered our "enemies," and * Re-create continually the conditions for peace in the midst of world cultures obsessed with war. WWC has planted itself in the holy ground where the wisdom of scripture and the wisdom of nature meet and are one…what we call “wilderness wisdom.” We seek to drink up that wisdom and allow it to shape who we are and how we live so that who we are and how we live reflects that deep wilderness wisdom. Wilderness wisdom finds expression, as far as we've seen, in three basic principles that are reflected over and over again in scriptural story and witness and nature: Shalom, Sabbath, Jubilee. Throughout the year, we focus on each of these principles in order to understand them more deeply.
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