Where We Come for Meaning... 

In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, popular author Barbara Kingsolver was asked to write a book about the terrible event and the impact she thought it might have on the world.

Barbara chose, in fact, to write a series of essays, and in one of the essays she comments that in the aftermath of that great tragedy, each of us had to find our own way to piece the world back together, to restore any sense of order back into our lives – to figure out how we would move on. For her it was by finding meaning in the little things in life – by recovering a sense of what she treasures most about life.

She says that the treasures she carries closest to her heart are the things she can’t own: the curve of her five-year-old’s forehead in profile, the vulnerable hand that reaches for her own as they cross the street. The wake-up call of birds in a forest. The intensity of light fifteen minutes before the end of
the day.

For me, church is a place where we come regularly to make meaning. To find some sense of order in a world which is very chaotic.

I think of the things I would miss if I didn’t have it –
A place for my children to relate to adults who are willing to share their wisdom and their lives.

A place where we can come together in a room we call a sanctuary and sing songs of hope and joy and peace in a world that seems to be forgetting about such things.

And I would miss the table. The meal that helps us recall that there is a love that is greater than any other love we have known, and that it is meant for us. I would miss the bread and the wine, reminders that the one who was willing to be broken for us is also the hope that we have for wholeness.

Thanks be to God for the gift of Church. May we always welcome others into our circle of love.

Amy