God is building a home. And God's using all of us - irrespective of how we got here - in what God is building.

This is a stunning statement. As we continue through our series, This Is Us, I am greatly encouraged. God is gathering us and fitting us together to live into God's dream for our neighborhoods.

That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all--irrespective of how we got here--in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day--a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home. [Ephesians 2:19-22 -The Message]

Home. Family. Belonging. We are no longer strangers but now we belong. In the midst of our highly mobile and fragmented culture, we have a deep longing for home. And in the midst of a culture that largely lives above place and disconnected from the land, I believe we have a profound desire to be rooted and grounded. This is why we as the church must begin to live into practices that connect us and ground us to our place and to each other.

For what does it mean to live into the reality that we are being built together into a dwelling place for God's presence and love in the earth? In my Richmond Highlands neighborhood of Shoreline or the Delta neighborhood of Everett or the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle. Each one of us with our individual stories and pain, gifts and brokenness are being knit together into a beautiful mosaic that displays the glory of God. Here. In this place. 

As friends, neighbors and strangers gather regularly in our home, these metaphors of home and family are not difficult to imagine. We gather every Sunday morning around our living room, to remember that Jesus is real and to find sanctuary and stillness in a world gone mad. And yet, this idea of family is palpable. In the smiling faces around the room, the freshly brewed coffee and homemade banana bread, and the swirl and squawks of babies and children as we lift our voices together. It is not a huge stretch to imagine that we are part of a family.

And as we gather every Wednesday for a neighborhood dinner around candlelit tables and share conversation and a meal, this idea that God is creating a home is not too far out of reach. I love that almost every week there are new faces welcomed in and new stories to be heard along with the mix of regulars and the joy and ease of friendship like the comfort of a well-worn shoe. Yes, we belong. We fit here. We are no longer strangers. We are home.

This is the gospel story. And as I walk the streets of my neighborhood and pass the homes of neighbors, both known and unknown, some that are a part of our faith community, some that are a part of the greater body of Christ, and some that are people of peace in my neighborhood, I am aware that the Spirit is at work here, weaving us together to create a fabric of care.

And I am grateful that God is not distant or removed, but has chosen to live here in and among us. In this place. God became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood [John 1:14]. The incarnation is not just a fancy word. But as Teresa of Avila has said, Christ has no body but ours. And now we (yes you and me and our neighbors) are being built together into a dwelling place, a temple and a home for the very presence of God.

Christ has no body but yours, 
No hands, no feet on earth but yours, 
Yours are the eyes with which he looks 
Compassion on this world, 
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, 
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. 
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, 
Yours are the eyes, you are his body. 
Christ has no body now but yours, 
No hands, no feet on earth but yours, 
Yours are the eyes with which he looks 
compassion on this world. 
Christ has no body now on earth but yours. 
-Teresa of Avila (1515-1582)

This is what it means to be the church. This is what it means to be citizens, family and a home for God's presence in our neighborhoods.

by Jessica Ketola

​Over the past two weeks, we have been inspired by compelling visions of God’s community. A community of scandalous inclusion, extravagant hospitality and generous abundance. Where everyone has a place and a voice at the table. Where we come together, all of us, regardless of class, gender, social status, skin color or race, as children of God. Where our well being is dependent and connected to the well being of the entire community. Where I am not whole until we are all whole and shalom and peace are shared among us all.
 
This is a beautiful vision and yet a difficult vision. And it is only possible by the love of God that is far beyond our own human limits, capacities and understanding. For the whole gist of the Christian story is this relentless, merciful, abundant love of God from the beginning to the end. John F. Alexander, author of Being Church, says, "The point isn't that (we’re) supposed to love God. Nor is it that (we’re) supposed to love others. The point is that God loves (us)." And in the midst of this reality, there is only abundance, never scarcity.
 
And yet in the paradox of the kingdom, there is this invitation to receive this abundant, extravagant love as well as the invitation to die, to pick up our cross daily and to lose our lives so that we may find a whole new kind of life together. 

"By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything..Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free [I would add black or white, Muslim or Christian, liberal or conservative, documented or undocumented] —are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive." [I Corinthians 12:13 The Message]
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And so as we talk about this vision of the kingdom and this revolutionary new community, we must be grounded in this extravagant love of God so that we can then count the cost. To follow Jesus into a way of life that is contrary to everything we know. Where our individualistic gospel is transformed into a communal gospel. This upside down kingdom where the last are first and the least are the greatest. Where we leave behind our individual rights, freedoms and comforts to be a part of a new abundant community. This must be our starting place.
 
This last weekend, Sarah Bailey and Cecelia Romero-Likes facilitated a conversation around race. And I loved how Sarah talked about a theology of abundance as our context for this conversation. For there is more than enough for everyone. We don’t have to defend or fight, compete or hoard. Instead, we can live generously knowing that there is no end to God’s love, favor and provision for us. And in this knowledge, we can then lay down our need to be right, our own fragility, our discomfort, and our shame. And we can listen and learn. We can repent and we can mourn. We can speak up when necessary and we can be silent to let others speak.
 
Below is a list of resources for you to explore, and I sincerely hope that you will do so. This is a challenging conversation and I commend you all. Be gentle with yourselves and with each other. Breathe. Listen well. Enter the discomfort and don’t expect others to do the heavy lifting for you. If something offends you, breathe again. Listen. Reflect. And consider what the log is in your own eye [Matthew 7:3]. What is it that you need to defend? Can you lay it down in light of God's extravagant mercy and grace? There is much to learn and there are many stories to attend to. But I believe that it is vital as we say yes to participating in God’s abundant and diverse community.
 
May you experience the profound love, grace and mercy of God as you open your hearts to “the other.”

Resources About Race & White Supremacy
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MUST LISTEN TO EPISODES
“Charlottesville and White People” -It’s Been A Minute with Sam Sanders 
'We're Not Them' Condemning Charlottesville And Condoning White Resentment - Code Switch 

RECOMMENDED PODCASTS
NPR’s Code Switch 
About Race (no longer airing, but a great roundtable format with lots of back episodes) 
Pod Save the People 
Hidden Brain (about sociology not race specifically, but good episodes on the sociology and psychology of race in America)
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PODCASTS by People of Color Primarily for People of Color 
Another Round 
See Something Say Something 
Latino USA 
Identity Politics

ARTICLES
White Supremacy Culture 
For Our White Friends Desiring To Be Allies 
Racial Identity Models 
Why I Stopped Talking About Racial Reconciliation And Started Talking About White Supremacy 
White Privilege:Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack

by Jessica Ketola