Nice Enough\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n I moved last month.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t seen a blog post about the spiritual exercise of moving , or the theological value of letting some things go, blah blah blah, it\u2019s because I\u2019ve been too overwhelmed to write anything. Moving on\u2026 we love our new house, and its wilderness views. \u00a0(I\u2019ll post pics soon).<\/p>\n Bad news: the neighbors. To be fair, I\u2019ve only met two of them. One was nice enough, but did not seem at all interested knowing the people next door to her. I went out of my way to speak to her\u2014in her <\/em>yard\u2014when I was moving some stuff in. 6 weeks later, I have not seen her again. The other man I met\u2014well, he was not<\/em> nice enough. Let\u2019s just leave it at that. No derby pie for him! [\u201cWhat\u2019s that man\u2019s name?\u201d asked my very friendly 2-year-old?\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I answered. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t want to talk to us\u2026\u201d]<\/p>\n As far as other neighbors go, I have yet to run into them. Or even see them in passing. Maybe it\u2019s the heat, maybe it\u2019s the housing crisis, but the neighborhood seems sort of bereft of human contact. Could there really be that many empty houses on one block? Possibly\u2026 newer neighborhoods took the worst hit in the recession, and many lovely new homes are just sitting there (which is how we moved into one, quick and cheap!) \u00a0I\u2019m going to wait until fall-ish and try again, but I am not encouraged. Because I may just have to admit that most people, these days, are not real interested in knowing you, if they don\u2019t know you already\u2026<\/p>\n This is one of the many reasons that I am grateful for the ministry of Foothills Christian Church, where I am the pastor. Every new person to cross our threshold comments on how warmly welcomed they feel by our congregation. If we had to identify one spiritual gift of our church, I\u2019d say it was hospitality. We feed people, we clothe and comfort people, we want to know their name, and we actually remember <\/em>it when they show up again. We are good neighbors. We seek to extend the same grace to others that we have known in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n The isolation that I\u2019m feeling in my new place is nothing unique or new. We have long known that people in this major metropolitan area, though surrounded by millions, feel more alone than ever. For a church that has a special gift for hospitality, I\u2019d say that epidemic of solitude is an invitation to ministry. I\u2019d say it is a beckoning of the Spirit to fill a void that only the Body of Christ can fill.<\/p>\n That is why, this fall, Foothills will engage in a learning and prayer process, discerning what it means to be an \u201cOpen and Affirming\u201d congregation.\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>It is why many progressive, mainline churches are choosing to identify themselves in this way. OnA not something that you just up and decide to \u201cbecome\u201d one day. Rather, it is an invitation that a church, uniquely gifted for hospitality, must one day, finally, speak out loud. At Foothills, our leaders have already answered the call to proclaim this inclusive gospel in our time and place. \u00a0Now it is up to the rest of the body to give life and breath to this exciting new vision.<\/p>\n Foothills has long been a church that welcomes all people. It is written, spoken, acted and felt in everything that we do together. I feel that many of our churches, in fact, are the kind of churches that that welcome all people. So why is it that, in public polls, the first associations people make with Christianity are anything but kindness, welcome, and inclusion?<\/p>\n I suspect it is because, however loving and inclusive we might be, the Church has too long gotten by on \u201cnice enough.\u201d\u00a0 Meanwhile\u2026 well, the neighbors are feeling lonely, and God did not call us to be \u201cnice enough.\u201d God calls us to share radical, life-giving, world-shaping good news that includes all people. All people<\/em>. Regardless of age, race, gender, sexual identity, economic status, faith heritage, or ability. Hmmm\u2026 that sounds like a mission statement to me. Mission statement, invitation, challenge, and Spirit-door.<\/p>\n We already do that, <\/em>our churches are saying. Well, yes, we do. Right now, we are nice enough. Speaking that invitation aloud, however, is another matter entirely. For such a time as this<\/em><\/strong>\u2026 nice enough doesn\u2019t cut it. I\u2019ll keep posting in the next few months as Foothills engages in this faithful process, and as I keep trying\u2014and oh, I WILL keep trying\u2014to meet my neighbors. Whether they like it or not.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nice Enough\u2026 I moved last month.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t seen a blog post about the spiritual exercise of moving , or the theological value of letting some things go, blah blah blah, it\u2019s because I\u2019ve been too overwhelmed to write anything. Moving on\u2026 we love our new house, and its wilderness views. \u00a0(I\u2019ll post pics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1154,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,11,59,257,12,24,25,26,34,35,27,140,89,68,40,53,36,258,105,259,30,31,260,261,9,32,44,10,45,106,262,107,16,63,85,22],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-and-community","tag-arizona","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-coming-out","tag-community","tag-connect","tag-desert","tag-disciples-of-christ","tag-discipleship","tag-evangelism","tag-faith","tag-family","tag-grace","tag-hope","tag-hospitality","tag-jesus","tag-joy","tag-mainline-christianity","tag-ministry","tag-mission-statement","tag-neighbor","tag-neighborhood","tag-ona","tag-open-and-affirming","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-relationships","tag-simplicity","tag-spirituality","tag-stewardship","tag-talents","tag-vision","tag-vocation","tag-west","tag-wilderness","tag-work","tag-worship"],"yoast_head":"\n