What We Believe

What follows is a plain accounting of our faith, set down so that any visitor might read and get some sense of who we are. The deeper study of things is undertaken together, beside the hearth, under the guidance of the Shepherd's Voice, and it is not something we can do justice to in a webpage.

Our Faith

We are Christians. We read the Bible as a shepherd's letter to his scattered flock, plain and patient and addressed to each of us by name. Brother David used to say that the gospel is best heard in the quiet, after the day's work is done, and that it is best read aloud, and he was right about this as he was right about most things.

The Fold and the Flock

We speak of our community as the Fold, and of ourselves as the Flock. It is not doctrine, only a way of speaking that Brother David loved and that we have kept. It reminds us that we are small, that we are kept, and that we are known by name.

The Lost and the Found

When one of our number leaves, we grieve, because we loved them and the Fold is smaller without them. We do not bar the gate; no one here is held against his or her will. We only remember the parable of the lost sheep, and we pray that the Lord, in His own time and not ours, will lead our lost home again.

The Calling

When a boy of the Fold reaches his sixteenth year, he undertakes a night of vigil and prayer called the Calling. Through it, quietly, it is revealed whether he will serve the Fold as a Hunter (providing meat and working the further land) or as a Tender (caring for the home, the gardens, the Littles, and the records of the Fold). Both are holy work and neither is greater than the other.

The Presenting

When a girl of the Fold reaches her sixteenth year, she is Presented to the flock in white at the spring Gathering. The Shepherd's Voice, in the season that follows, discerns her pairing, and she is received among the mothers and keepers of the Fold.

On the World Outside

The world outside our valley is not our enemy. There are good people in it, and good fields, and good work. But Brother David taught that a flock which scatters is soon hard to gather, and so we keep close to one another and close to this valley.

Last Updated: January 7, 2019