Harlem<\/span><\/a>. It had a huge kitchen and living room and four bedrooms, and cost $2,600 a month. Then Miss Scott moved in, staying in whichever room was empty \u2014 all of the roommates spent (and continue to spend) many nights with their significant others. When it was decided that Miss Scott needed her own room, they started looking for a five-bedroom place to share. They like hanging together.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nHere\u2019s how they think about family: <\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have some sort of family here where you know each other\u2019s business, their parents, everything,\u201d Mr. Vosovic said.\u201d<\/p>\nThey live separate lives together:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cIt\u2019s a great little commune, especially because while the residents hang out now and then, and give birthday parties for one another, they still live separate lives. So far, there are no plans to break up a good thing. But Mr. Vosovic has ideas for the future. \u201cHopefully the girls will get pregnant and we\u2019ll have babies with live-in baby sitters!\u201d he said.\u201d<\/p>\nClearly the roommates are nice people.\u00a0 They prize that most precious of modern buzzwords, \u201ccommunity.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s no bad thing.\u00a0 They sound fun and caring, and it seems that they have created their own little family.\u00a0 It seems, though, that they have accepted the current generation\u2019s radical redefinition of family\u2013where once it referred to a \u201cnuclear\u201d unit composed of husband, wife, and children, now it refers to any number of shifting collections of friends and acquaintances.\u00a0 Having seen many couples seemingly fall out of love, observing the fragmentation and geographical isolation of the modern family,\u00a0groups like this\u00a0are recreating family the best they can.<\/p>\n
But this comes with a price.\u00a0 It means that one lives as one likes.\u00a0 It means the delaying of responsibility and maturity.\u00a0 As a new father, I can say that I have found fatherhood to be one of the most spiritually stimulating experiences of my life.\u00a0 It is a blast, simply put, though it involves tons of dedication, sacrifice, and hard work.\u00a0 I\u2019m very much figuring all that out, but I can already see how fatherhood helpfully changes us and robs us of our selfishness, if we allow it to do so.<\/p>\n
Though this modern way of living\u2013with relationships, work, and friends neatly compartmentalized\u2013seems optimal, it can mask a pervasive narcissism and refusal to mature.\u00a0 The call to make a family, which many of us will hear, brings together all aspects of life, unifies them as a single whole, makes us whole people.\u00a0 One can\u2019t have a \u201clife\u201d at work, another with one\u2019s boyfriend or girlfriend, another with one\u2019s roommates.\u00a0\u00a0Rather than accepting\u00a0a new definition of the family, an unbiblical one, Christians need to be salt and light by transmitting the beauty of the natural family to a confused, compartmentalized world.<\/p>\n
In the end, it strikes me that these young people are looking for something that they can\u2019t find outside of Christ\u2013a family greater than their own.\u00a0 This little group of roommates, in their own way, is reaching for a community they cannot enter, a joy they cannot taste, unless God makes them His own by giving them faith in His Son through the work of His Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whether single or married, we need to call all people to the true family, the family of God.\u00a0 Our\u00a0natural families, saturated with goodness and blessing, are just a snapshot\u00a0of the beauty of God\u2019s spiritual family\u00a0in which both\u00a0all people\u00a0may find ultimate fulfillness.\u00a0 In New York City or rural South Dakota, the local church beckons to the sad and lonely, calling all to join it in its journey to the lasting home, the dwelling place of God.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just found an interesting article that captured a cultural trend.\u00a0 The New York Times writer Stephen Williams penned a piece called \u201cHome, Hangout, Departure Lounge\u201d that profiles a group of roommates living together in New York City.\u00a0 It\u2019s\u00a0a short but noteworthy article that includes the following: Here\u2019s how the group came together: \u201cThe four roommates […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[682,924,1007,1073,13141,13152,13165,13176,1883,2167,13217,2393,2539,2960],"class_list":["post-1157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bravo","tag-community","tag-daniel-vosovic","tag-delayed-maturity","tag-family","tag-god","tag-holy-spirit","tag-jesus-christ","tag-local-church","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-times","tag-project-runway","tag-roommates","tag-true-community"],"yoast_head":"\n
Are Roommates the New Family?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Just found an interesting article that captured a cultural trend.\u00a0 The New York Times writer Stephen Williams penned a piece called "Home, Hangout,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2008\/11\/are-roommates-the-new-family\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Roommates the New Family?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just found an interesting article that captured a cultural trend.\u00a0 The New York Times writer Stephen Williams penned a piece called "Home, Hangout,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2008\/11\/are-roommates-the-new-family\/\" \/>\n<meta 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<\/a>Here\u2019s how the group came together:<\/strong> \u201cThe four roommates from Grand Rapids became friends in high school. Each of them eventually made it to New York, where all but Mr. Armstrong attended the Fashion Institute of Technology<\/span><\/a>. It was there that Mr. D\u2019Adamo joined the crew. He now works in sales at the Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams furniture store in SoHo.\u00a0 About four years ago, everybody except Miss Scott rented an apartment together in Harlem<\/span><\/a>. It had a huge kitchen and living room and four bedrooms, and cost $2,600 a month. Then Miss Scott moved in, staying in whichever room was empty \u2014 all of the roommates spent (and continue to spend) many nights with their significant others. When it was decided that Miss Scott needed her own room, they started looking for a five-bedroom place to share. They like hanging together.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n