As many of you may have heard by now, I’m in the process of moving across town. After years of renting, I’ll be moving into a place of my own, and I’m excited to finally get there and get settled.
However, this is not a thing I can do on my own.
And forget just the physical part of it – carting lots of boxes down two flights of stairs and then up three at my new home; or moving a few large pieces of furniture. I also couldn’t have found the home without help, or financed it; nor can I fix it up without lots of help from others.
I know I need help; but some of my need has been easier to acknowledge than others. I know I can’t understand all the documents given to me at the closing without the help of an attorney, and I know I can’t move my queen-sized mattress on my own. But as a pretty independent and organized person, I want to be able to do so much more without having to ask others. To move all my books and my very large collection of kitchenware; to clean and organize my new closets and shelves; to care well for Zoe at the same time as I attempt to put all our possessions in boxes and bags.
It has been very humbling to realize that I cannot lift as much as I thought I could. That I cannot work hard with my body all day packing, and then have my mind clear to decide on which paint color and what ceiling fan to order. That I need other people, so much more than I realized.
And that is just in the world of my move.
There is so much going on beyond that; a lot in our life together as a church; and a lot in my own life as I start engaging the world with much more freedom and less fear, now that I’m fully vaccinated.
I need help with all of this too.
Just this morning, I needed to call a friend to help me sort something out over the phone. I had a conversation with someone days ago that was still bothering me, still causing me hurt and anger and sadness, and I needed someone else to help me unpack all of those feelings. To listen, and to offer her thoughts; to help me find a way out and forward.
It has been such an intense year of intense feelings, coupled with isolation. Most of us, if we’re fortunate, have had a small group of people with whom we have hunkered down and stayed connected while we made it through. We have needed each other to get through the worst of the pandemic; and we still need each other, but in a new way.
We need our full community again, not just a few members of it. We need to gather, and to grieve, and also to celebrate; to share and process through our experiences; to help each other.
In the course of my conversation this morning, I was reminded that God exists as three-in-one; not just God and Jesus; not just one or two members taking on the world – but three in one; a true community.
So too do we need multiple others to flourish as we were meant to. As those made in God’s image, we were also made for community and connection, made for a diversity of relationships, made for difference and yet for commitment to each other.
It’s tricky, of course, to need other people. It’s humbling. It’s not as straightforward as going it alone. But it is also so much better, and richer, and more honoring of who God created us to be.
So I’m going to keep asking for help, and I hope you will too. The coming days will still challenge us, I am sure; but let us go forward together, and have courage.
-Pastor Jen
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