Today I took the step of "covenanting" with New Hope Community Church - making a formal commitment to share in life and
ministry with this community that has already become so much a part of my life.
It was almost exactly a year ago, October 17th, when I e-mailed
Lonna saying I'd like to come to New Hope. I had reached a point at Locust Lane
where I felt like I wasn't being spiritually fed or challenged at all, and knew
that I needed something more. Having visited New Hope a handful of times in the
past, it came to mind as a place where I had felt embraced and challenged at
the same time, and I had this inexplicably strong urge to go back.
I remember that first Sunday Pastor Tom spoke on the
practice of foot-washing, and Lonna shared how doing dishes for someone is
washing their feet; that's one of the many ways that we express love in
community with one another. And I was hooked, because that's what I wanted,
what I needed - a loving community of people of faith who cared about and for
one another. And that is really what has drawn me deeper and deeper into New
Hope - that I couldn't just come on Sunday mornings and then disappear - that
community life is built into the core of church life, that we are involved in
eachother's lives.
And community life is messy - we don't always agree and
sometimes perspectives clash, but that is also part of the challenge of being
the Body of Christ. One of my favorite sermons was on "harmony," and
how we can't have harmony without differences - it is the coming together across
those differences that creates harmony, and that is one of the things that I
appreciate about New Hope, the willingness to recognize and engage our
differences while still moving us forward as One Body.
I come as a life-long Mennonite, valuing peace, justice,
simplicity and a concern for the poor; as a feminist, anti-racist and LGBT
ally, believing that God is a God of love for ALL people, and that we are
tasked with bringing the Kingdom by living out that love to those on the
margins; and as someone deeply committed to community, the one that is being
lived out here, in my neighborhood of Allison Hill and in the city of
Harrisburg. I hope to join these values and commitments to the work of this
church, and to continue to be embraced and challenged in living out my faith.
I am so grateful to each person who has brought me to this
point - Lonna, Pastor Tom, the ladies of my small group and everyone who has
welcomed me in and drawn me out as a member of this Body. I treasure the
glimpses of the Kingdom that I have seen and continue to see at New Hope -
crying together and laughing together; sharing our burdens and sharing our
joys; tackling the complexities of how to read Scripture and follow Jesus; and
letting our hearts be touched and our passions come alive.
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| The candle that Lonna gave me at the covenanting ceremony, shining its light as the sun sets. |
