I have some really great news—at least to me!
The view from the front
After eighteen years of transitional ministry and interim positions, I finally bought a house. I am absolutely thrilled and delighted! The house was built in 1900 and has all kinds of quirky character to it, a little like me.
I chose it for a number of reasons: it was close to my grandchildren in Oregon City; it was in my price range; it keeps me close to the county roads for good summer cycling; and the house was just the right size for this one-person household, small enough to take care of and big enough to entertain guests and family.
But as I was moving in I realized that my experience might be a lesson for many of our churches. I realized that the neighborhood I was moving into, at least on the surface, represented people who don’t look like me, think like me or act like me. I realized that the adventure I was about to embark on was sounding vaguely familiar to the refrain I have heard from so many churches: “Over the years the neighborhood changed around us. We feel like strangers in our own land.”
This picture from my moving van is this:
- The people in the neighborhood look different from the typical upscale Presbyterians with whom I spend much of my life.
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The view down the street
While the people I know often park their cars in garages and pay mechanics to work on them, it’s not unusual in my new neighborhood to see a car up on blocks or with the hood up and a couple of men tinkering with tools.
- I am more used to seeing storage units used to conceal possessions, but many homes here have extra appliances, unused wood, and surplus furniture stored under protective eaves or even on the lawn.
- While most of the yards are pretty well-kept, only a handful are what I would call a manicured lawn.
- Trucks and service vehicles parked on the street expose that the neighborhood is probably more working class than educated professionals.
- At two nearby houses, empty Coors cans, soda cans and cigarette butts litter the front yard and driveways.
This year we have become painfully aware of the structural biases inherent in our system. We have had to be honest with ourselves about what the Black Lives Matter movement teaches us. We have seen a violent attack on the Capitol building by people who have felt left behind by a “liberal elite.” We are more divided than ever. And the division lives within our own hearts.
As I move into a new house and a new neighborhood I want to make sure that I am contributing toward the healing of our nation and communities rather than exacerbating it. I want to overcome my own biases and now I have an opportunity.
I have decided to be intentional about not letting my biases get in the way of creating community in my new neighborhood. I offer this as a gift to you. If you are in a church where the “neighborhood changed around you” and you feel like strangers in your own land, I hope this can be helpful.
Here are my intentions:
- I will get to know my neighbors and accept them for who they are;
- I will not assume that I have more to offer the community by virtue of my education or professional status;
- I will be a good neighbor offering help where I can and asking for help when I need it.
- I will assume that my new neighbors have as much to offer me as I have to offer them;
- I will look for God to show up in un-expected, non-Presbyterian ways;
- I will assume that the healing of our religious/political/social divides is best done one neighborly relationship at a time;
- I will maintain my own character without judging their character;
- I will use my Christian faith to connect rather than to divide.
- I will assume that this is an opportunity to grow, to learn, and to become a more inclusive person.
- I will even drink a Coors if that is what it takes to bridge the great American divide.
Our faith reminds us repeatedly to welcome the stranger. And, in these days, the stranger is probably living right next door to us.
Let’s get to work.
By Rev. Brian Heron, Presbyter for Vision and Mission, Presbytery of the Cascades
Thrilled for you and US, Brian. This is so you and us right now. A house is like a heart: if is what, how and where you make it.
Greetings Brian,
Greatly appreciate your frankness and sincerity … we all benefit, and hope our neighbors too (I haven’t drunk a Coors for decades).
Congratulations, and welcome home.
José
Brian,
Thank you for revealing your personal life so much. Being vulnerable, I think, is an avenue to greater understanding, which can lead to greater compassion, which can lead to greater love. That’s the theory I want to believe with all my heart. I wish I was as strong as you. I wish it was easier to think about ministry first and family second. I wish I could simply move myself and my children to a safe, trusting, neighbor-help-neighbor community (and still have a job and a family). I am struggling with several things personally as I stare at the challenge you just unveiled. I can’t even imagining beginning to formulate a plan like you outlined. The structure is so pervasive it is almost like garlic mustard, that invasive species that kills off all the beneficial bacteria in the soil around it so natives die and all that is left is what Garlic Mustard needs to survive and eventually create a monoculture of itself. Interpreting your challenge one way, you suggest combating structural racism, embedded ethnocentric affluenza, ecological injustice, and inter-tribal distrust one neighbor at a time – I pray it works, Brian; and I pray I have enough strength to follow your lead – but I feel so far away from empowerment to do so.
Hi Scott,
I appreciate you wrestling with this, just as I have done. I do want to say that for me it isn’t a matter following my lead with regard to moving into a neighborhood where I will be able to work directly on the class divisions of our communities. For me, it is a matter of being faithful in our own context. For me, my context is that I have been divorced for 14 years, children are grown, and my financial status has naturally landed me in this place. I can’t afford to live in an upscale neighborhood even if I wanted to! This is where God and life has led me. I didn’t actually choose to live here as a way of being faithful. Rather, I landed here and discovered opportunities for faithfulness that I didn’t expect.
“What is faithful in your context,” is the question I would ask. The choices I made twenty years ago are very different than the choices I make now due to raising family at that time. I have more freedom now to weigh the vocational side more heavily than the family side, at least for the moment.
Your questions and reflections are always a sign of your deep faithfulness. The contemplative side is one whole arm of our faith and spiritual life.
With you on this journey.
Brian
An exciting adventure for sure! Hope you share your progress occasionally! ♥
My heart is happy for you! Your thoughts and words have me thinking about our new neighbors whom we have only waved at from a distance because of COVID-19. I will bake bread (I love baking bread and sharing) to leave a loave at their gate. You are right the change begins with us. Congratulations on your new home. It looks like a beauty with a history too. Many blessings. Be safe and we’ll. Chris and Gary
What town are you in?
On Wed, Feb 3, 2021 at 10:24 PM Holy Breadcrumbs wrote:
> revbheron posted: “I have some really great news—at least to me! After > eighteen years of transitional ministry and interim positions, I finally > bought a house. I am absolutely thrilled and delighted! The house was built > in 1900 and has all kinds of quirky character to it” >
Living in Gladstone, Sharon.
“I will even drink a Coors…” 😁!
Great blog, Brian! And really, what a great opportunity. I look forward to hearing your experiences as you get to know your neighbors.
If you ever get back to Yachats, we could play pingpong in my garage. I’m playing three times a week now. We leave the door up for ventilation and block errant balls with cardboard barriers.
It’s getting to be time for a catchup, isn’t it?
Love, Patty
>
Good news. Everyone needs a base from which to grow.
Thank you!
I enjoyed this perspective. Esp the ‘I’ll even drink a Coors if I have to’!
So often we Christian’s are too good to be true.
God Bless.