Community Archives - Sapphire Pavement

Building Community Here & Now

It’s no use having fancy ideas for the future unless one is already living out of them, as it were, drawing them into the present. And utilizing what comes from the past.

I spent ten wonderful years with the Christian Quest Community here. During that time there was really nothing about building community that I did not learn; everything, in time, yielded understanding and wisdom. After that time ended, rather abruptly, I spent seven years out – but Glastonbury had not finished with me. I read the signs, and they said “come back”. I asked what my new work was, and Spirit said “pay attention”. I felt I was still carrying the Quest vision, but I went to Iona explicitly to let go of anything from the past that I should not be hanging on to. Iona showed me that my vision for “Quest the Next Generation” was still there. Fine, I thought. Let it unfold in its own time.

Quest Community and its legacy

I was a founder member of Quest, an ecumenical Christian community in Glastonbury, from 1993 to 2002. I loved every moment. Much of our work was to help people in need, to listen to their sometimes extraordinary stories, and to recognize forgotten truths often hidden in them.

People somehow turn up in Glastonbury when they are at a crossroads in their life: lost their home, their job, their spouse, their wits, their health, their faith, their sense of purpose … in Quest, they were sent to us, and we would do what we could … I could put myself in the shoes of most of the people who came to Quest for help: I’d been there myself. And I knew that if I sat with problems patiently, God would start to help.