The Witness of Community

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

God takes the ordinary and uses it for extraordinary purposes. So it is at Grace Church.

 

Last Sunday, as the altar party was lined up and waiting for the 10:30 service to start, I noticed one of our older members coming in the Russell Road doors. I realized that she was leaning on the arm not of her family member, but of a younger friend, instead.

 

As the service went on, I kept noticing more and more people grouped not by blood but by affection. A gang of children from several families sat together with one parent to oversee them all. At the communion rail, two teenagers knelt side by side, their parents nowhere to be seen.

 

We sometimes talk about family of origin versus family of choice. Grace Church is a chosen family. For some, the bonds are decades deep. For others, they are newer but powerful. For still others, the tendrils of trust are just beginning to grow.

 

We believe Grace Church is a place of belonging, and we aspire to make it more so, still.

 

Ordinary connections are extraordinarily important in this place and time. In our civic and cultural moment, connection cannot be taken for granted. As we hear politicians discuss immigration, people are routinely devalued and even dehumanized. It has become normative for public figures to mock people for their personal characteristics. It is regrettably common for all of us to vilify those with whom we disagree.

 

It can be different. When we connect with one another—when we create a place of true belonging—we proclaim another reality. When we choose to treat one another like family, we point towards the reality of the one human family.

 

It may not feel extraordinary to sit with your friend at church. But amidst so much callousness, bigotry, and indifference, it is powerful to reach out.

 

Jesus himself made a claim about chosen family: “Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Matthew 12:49-50)

 

Mothers and brothers are we, and sisters and fathers, too. I hope that the connection we create in here can be a sign and a gift to the world out there.

 

Yours in Christ,
Anne+