Tabernacling

Author Peter Lovenheim lives in a quiet, upscale suburb of Rochester, NY, a neighborhood that was rocked by a horrific murder suicide in 2000.  The tragedy causedhim to reflect on the reality that he knew nearly none of his neighbors, and he was disturbed to think that they were as disconnected from each other as he.

He set out to connect with his community by politely asking 35 of his neighbors if he could spend the night at their homes and spend the following day with them.  He published what he learned and how his experiment changed his sense of community in his book, In the Neighborhood: the Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time. 

Many of us would never dream of invading another person’s space by asking to spend the night, unless we were visiting relatives or very close friends.  Still, Lovenheim’s book struck a chord in many people because he was addressing the deep disconnection we feel in modern life.  Many Americans have meaningful connection with family, coworkers, a few close friends, and perhaps people from church.  As a pastor, I have always been grateful for the rare privilege of hospitality I have enjoyed as people have welcomed me into their homes and allowed me to discover a deeper sense of their lives and families.

Thankfully, Millbrook still has a wonderful sense of community—deep roots and old families combined with a spirit of hospitality and welcome to newcomers.  We have many avenues for people to connect with folks beyond their closest circles—I’ve recently enjoyed a community Thanksgiving service, the Millbrook Revelers business fair, an invitation to join Kiwanis, and the community Christmas Tree Lighting on the Village Green.  These and many other events demonstrate the civic spirit that our town enjoys.  We would do well to joyfully and vigilantly do all we can to protect and cultivate these connections for the good of all.

We would do well, too, to remember during this holiday season that we serve a God who made Himself vulnerable, and like Peter Lovenheim with his neighbors, entered into our homes and hearts to know us, to help us to know him, and to create community where we had been alienated.  The Bible teaches us that when God became human in Jesus, God was making his tabernacle, his dwelling with us.  He was connecting with us one home and one heart at a time.  For that we should be grateful, because Christmas’s timeless message is that we are never alone.

[this article appeared first in the Millbrook Independent]