Abstract
Although there is no guarantee — as evidenced by numerous wars — that people
living together will do so in harmony or in a sense of community, or that people who live
alone are necessarily lonely or without any sense of community; there is a certainty, as
Henri Nouwen insists, that the principal characteristic of community is a “deep sense of
being gathered by God.” It was with this sense of being gathered by God that a team came
together in an attempt to provide people diagnosed with cancer a place to share their
experiences, seek and find medical information physicians may have neglected to provide
them, laugh unguardedly at themselves, and ultimately become empowered by the process
of sharing. Undoubtedly, the burgeoning cancer support group is a work in progress.
Assuredly, for those who aspire to such lofty goals there has already been confirmation that
indeed there is strength in sharing.
