Into the Neighborhood

When I moved to Collierville twenty-two years ago this summer, I moved in and basically was thinking: well, for better or worse, good or ill, warts and all—these are my people. It was not love at first sight. I came from a place where I could be in a duck hole in five minutes and that night enjoy the most sophisticated food and conversation in the what is still the strangest place I have ever lived. I left a place I dearly loved to come be a stranger in a new place because I felt God wanted us to come here. I was not looking for Shangri-La, nor did I have illusions that I would ever find it this side of glory.When I moved here, we quickly bought a house and went about sinking deep roots in this place. My thinking was that, if I was going to ministry here, I needed to speak from inside the same conditions as everybody else. Mine was not an abstract prophetic stance; no, it was a word from within a shared experience. My experience with carpet baggers or developers who want to come in from the outside and impose their will on a place, or just profit from a place and then abandon it, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I knew this was my place for real when, after being here about twelve years, I told my wife I would be buried in Magnolia Cemetery rather than the old home place in Moore’s Mill, Mississippi, where the dead of my clan have rested for over a hundred and fifty years.The writer John describes Jesus coming to earth as “moving into the neighborhood.” I like that. When God speaks to us, he doesn’t shout platitudes from heaven; he comes down into the mud with us. He subjected himself to the same conditions we face and yet lived in obedience to God. No religion would dare to claim that their god took flesh (forever) or that he moved into the neighborhood. Heck no, just pull out your mythology again. The only thing that happens when the gods show up on earth is not good. I am reading The Song of Achilles right now, a modern retelling of The Iliad, and in the story Patroclus (Achilles' companion) is going to meet Achilles' mother who is a lesser god. His comment about this meeting is laced with fear, “I made the sign against evil…gods and mortals never mixed happily in our stories.” How different the gospel, where the coming of God into the world makes it possible for us to mix happily with God!If you are new here, come a little early and join us at 9:15 am for our Inquirers’ Class where we will explore our beliefs, values, and what it means to belong at St. Patrick. There will be childcare available, and we would love to have you join us.One other thing, if you were not here this past Sunday, you missed the introduction of our newest staff member, Maggie Chancellor. She will be assisting Amy in Family Ministry. Her official title is Family Ministry Assistant. We are so glad to welcome her to the St. Patrick family!Blessings,Jim