Talk Thursday // All. By. Myself. Don'twannabe....t

Over the last few days, I've had the same conversation with several people: it is hard to make friends and build relationships as a post-college grad. For some reason, finding friends and gaining community gets more and more difficult, it seems.

And it apparently doesn't seem to matter if you're single, married, a cat lady or a Twilight fan - the post-college world is a hard one to live in.

For someone like me, who is EXTREMELY extroverted and needs people ALL. THE. TIME. this little paradigm shift for my life has been hard. Especially living in the Northwest where it is much more difficult to penetrate the thick walls that people put themselves in.

However, we are built for community - we are designed for it. We are created for relationships and friendships, even when they are hard to find.

So, in selfishness AND an act of mercy for those other Hephizbah readers in similar boats, let's talk. It'll be like a reader survey/an advice column. =)

Where are you in life? College, post-college, employed, not-employed, living at home, living on your own?

AND

Where have you found relationships? How have you managed to build community and make friends in whatever stage you are in life? If you've done so successfully, can you give any one of us some advice?

People Who Need People, Part 1

Animals fascinate me, as you well know. Very rarely do you see animals as isolated creatures; the majority of them live in packs or herds or schools or swarms. They are built relationally, communally. It is intrinsic to their very nature to be in groups, to be together. If they are separated from the group, they will die. This is understood for them. 

Interestingly enough, most people groups know this truth as well. They live in close-knit communities - tribes, clans, households. The identity of one person is bound up in the corporate identity. The two-thirds world (as the "third-world" is apparently now known as) understands the meaning, reality, and necessity of living communally and relationally. Almost every other people group in the world outside of North America and Western Europe live like this today. And even in America, hermits/reclusive people are seen as "social outcasts" - the weird ones. 

We are who we are only in relationship to others. No matter where I go, whether there are people around or I'm on a deserted island, I am and forever will be the daughter of Don and Juanita, the sister of Heather and Rachael, friend of Emily and Matt, college roommate of Adina. I am who I am in relationship to these people. We all are. 

Though community and relationality are seen all around us, why does the American mind refuse to see itself in terms of relationship? Why specifically does the American church fail to see itself as community? As the body of Christ? All too often, the American church is seen as "a church is often seen as a voluntary association made up of religious individuals whose allegiance lies elsewhere." (Drs. Brad Harper & Paul Metzger, Exploring Ecclesiology) Yet, that's not what we were designed for. 

We are designed and created for community, for relationship. It is who we are. 

How then do we live like it?

There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home....

Well, I clicked my little sparkly flats together and found myself back in Missouri (thankfully not Kansas) this last week. It was good to see my friends and utterly refreshing to spend time with peoople my own age and relative place in life. During the whirlwind that was my week away, there was a wedding, a bridal shower, a shopping spree, too many rushed dinners, lots of awkward hugs, a birthday party, a moving extravaganza, and entirely not enough time with people that I love and miss terribly.

And in spite of all that, I was homesick.

I do not know what is wrong with me. I get "homesick" for Missouri and while I'm there, I get "homesick" for Washington. There is some kind of disconnect in my brain, I think.

It was a completely exhausting, much needed week away. And I'm glad that I'm back.

Perhaps I've been wrong all along; maybe home isn't always simply where my stuff is. Home is where I feel vulnerable and accepted in that vulnerability. Completely safe from judgment and derision, welcomed to share in community and desired for who I am and what I can offer. And to be honest, some days that changes. Some days I am fully at home in Washington. This last week, there were days I felt right and some days I longed for home. A friend reminded me that we are created for something grander and all of what we know, what we encounter, what we love is sometimes only a reflection and a glimpse into what we were made for.

Thanks God, for giving me people who allow me to find home in You, wherever that may be. Thanks for continually being a rock of habitation to which I call. Thanks for always being home.

Just a Paragraph

So I'm working on my application for seminary (yes...it's true...grad school), and in the midst of the "general biography" section, there was a question.

Describe your salvation experience and your relationship to Jesus Christ.

Then they proceed to give me three lines in which to explain all this. My first thought: how in the wizzle do I put all that into three lines?! You can't write really, really tiny or else the old people who read the applications can't read it. And they don't give you the opportunity to attach another piece of paper (and believe me, in other places, they give PLENTY of opportunities!). This application has to look classy, refined, mature, academic. Which leaves me with one choice: to reveal all that is my spiritual experience (i.e. my whole life) in a paragraph.

What are they thinking?!

At any rate, I attempted it. Trying to verbalize an entire lifetime with the Almighty is like trying to....do...something....really, really...difficult. (Sorry, my metaphorical outlet is on vacay today.)

How would YOU answer that question in a paragraph? What are your stories?


My feeble attempt (and I still may have to write small):

I was baptized at age 6. My mother says it was because I claimed Jesus was my best friend and I was at a Billy Graham crusade, but I honestly cannot remember. I grew up attending church and all church-related functions, assuming that because I did this, God and I were alright. It was not until late into high school that I realized "church Sarah" and "not-church Sarah" were not the same person. It was then that I remember truly surrendering my life to the Lord and knowing He was the Lord of my heart. Since then my relationship with Christ has waxed and waned. There are moments when His presence is palpable; other moments I feel almost like I've never experienced Him. In spite of my feelings, however, He has remained faithful. I am ever-learning more about Him, His nature, His work in the world and He is ever-guiding me to live in the Spirit. Sometimes I listen, but more often than not, I don't. But He, as always, remains by me, shaping me to be a person who desires His heart.

WebChurch...Round 2 tonight

Well, I joined up with the LifeShare crew tonight and it was amazing. People were praying for each other, people they'd never met. Someone even prayed for me and I don't know them from Adam!
So if you want to watch or join, here's the proper link, as given to me by the paster over there.
11am tomorrow morning and other times this weekend! Check it out!

Love you guys!

***So I missed last night's LifeChurch. But I'll be there tonight!

8pm, CST (that's 6pm for you West Coasters) over at LifeChurch.tv. Since I wasn't there, I don't know if my links are broken or not. Hopefully they're ok.

But check it out.


Also, today's "word of the day" - tintinnabulation. Any guess?

See ya tonight!! =)

Church on the Web? What?!

The Internet is a funny thing. It's only been around for barely a generation, yet it's become a HUGE part of life. I know that if I don't check my Facebook/blog/Gmail/Xanga on a regular basis, I get a little panicky.

So here we are. Doing an aspect of life in the binary world. Yes, there are real people on the other sides of these screens, but for all practical purposes, the web is an outlet, an extension of a culture - not who we are, but maybe what we want to be.

Which makes it difficult sometimes to live life. I'll be honest, it's MUCH easier for me to tell the internet how I feel about some situation or internal conflict than it is to tell another person. I can edit my thoughts until they come out sounding pretty decent (I think). There's little stammering and I can make whatever point I want without interruption.

But my hope for this blog (and for a community of bloggers) is to live life intentionally. There are blogs I read everyday that shout community, reality, honesty, authenticity and love from every post.

So how to do we, as a web-community, do that here? Not forsaking the community of the people we actually live with, but also having purpose and passion here. How does that work? Can it?

Well, some of the people over at LifeChurch.tv are trying something new. They want to develop authenticity and community in this space that so many of us give so much time to. For the next week, they are hosting church via the Web. Weird? A little. But it's reaching people that may not normally go to "real-life" church.

The message is Jesus Christ and Him resurrected. This is just a new way to do it.

Starting tonight @ 8pm, CST, check out LifeChurch.tv. Engage in the worship, listen to the sermons, chat with people worshipping the same God all over the world.



Is this too much? Cool? What do you think?

Freedom. Beauty. Truth. Love.

I hate to tell you all this, but I signed us all up for something. You didn't really get a say. I'd apologize, but I'm not really sorry.

Starting next Wednesday, September 17th through September 24th, we're doing something different.

Something big.

Something awesome.

When I find out new details, I'll let you know.

But if you want to hear the "skinny" now, visit this guy's blog.

Let's rock this interweb for the glory of the Lord.

It's gonna be cool. You won't want to miss it. I promise.

=)

~S~