The Space We Inhabit

For the past couple of years I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the space we inhabit.  Maybe because we find ourselves in our third location in as many years. For those who haven’t heard yet, we’ve found a home on the corner of 4th and Ramsey in a house called Common Ground.  As you read this, we are planning and dreaming for our next home within the St. Andrew’s redevelopment project.  All this recent uncertainty and unsettledness had left me, if I’m being honest, distracted and a little adrift. 

That changed a couple of weeks ago.  With our board and a new partnership with OSQ&A, the queers and allies fellowship at OSU, we hosted an ice cream social during welcome week for nearly 100 students.  I introduced myself and told everyone, “I’m thrilled you’re here, and I want to let you know that when we tell you Jesus loves you, we do not add an asterisk.  We want to build a community that welcomes you and loves you as Jesus does.”  It breaks my heart that we hear so many times, “I didn’t know there were church groups like this here.”  Their candid musing has me, in our kids' parlance, “locked in.”

The community we are building isn’t holy because we have a roof over our head and our own furniture.  The community we continue building is holy and life-transforming because we are committed to welcoming Jesus as a friend or a stranger and sharing His love without condition or caveat.  It holds for the class of 2029 just as it did for the classes of ‘03, ‘68, and everyone before and yet to come.  Thanks be to God that this community has welcomed, loved, and blessed us. 

In Jesus’ love and the brightest orange,

Jeff

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