pride parade

Normally on a Sunday morning at 10, I can be found in the back of the sanctuary of Grace Covenant Church in Chicago. A child is usually standing next to me, waiting for a chime to ring, signaling the start of the worship service. The child proceeds down the center aisle to light a large candle (called the Christ candle) placed on the altar. It reminds the church that Jesus, the light of the world, is with us—even when we think we can’t see him.

Last Sunday morning, however, I was not at Grace. Instead, I was at home because our church was using this fifth Sunday of the month for an experience we call “Church To Go.” The idea is rooted in the truth that the church is not an event-based place to which we retreat once a week, but a community of people seeking and sharing Jesus’ love wherever we happen to live out the better part of our days—our homes and places of work, where we shop, play, and learn. The church, by definition, is not a sit-down and receive kind of place; the church is an on-the-go community. Thus, on this Church-To-Go Sunday, the invitation was “to go” and BE the church, instead of just coming to a particular place once a week to do churchy kinds of things.

So, last Sunday just before 10 a.m. I was at home getting ready to have neighbors over to enjoy brunch with them in our front yard. We love hanging out with our neighbors. During the warm months of the year, we get together with them in our front yard every week to enjoy food, drink, and good conversation. We call it the Bernard Street Happy Hour.

Through this simple practice, our neighbors have become like family to me. In fact, they have become a true church to me even though most of them rarely, if ever, go to church. We know each other and help each other out. We enjoy spending time together; we laugh with one another and sometimes we disagree with each other. We eat and drink together and share stories with one another. Last fall, we pooled our money together and purchased a snowblower, which was a huge blessing last winter.

Anyway, at 9:59 last Sunday I received a strange text message from one of our neighbors (who gave me permission to share this story). It was Keziah and the text message was just one word: “Troy!”

She and her husband Vince had just had their third child about a month ago. They were in the process of a move and still had some things to tend to before completely vacating their home on July 1.

I replied, “Hiya!”

And she explained: “I need help! Vince is out of town and I just got back to our house and discovered a water leak from the AC upstairs! I don’t know what to do and there is lots of water under the fake wood laminate. I’ve put fans on it and opened windows. Any suggestions beyond that?”

I called her and she said right away, “I’m sorry to bother you at this time on a Sunday. I just realized you are probably at church and have a lot to do.”

I explained to her that we weren’t at church this week because we wanted to give the church a chance to actually BE the church by being a blessing in whatever way we could think. I said, “So, honestly, you are giving me a chance to put that into practice. Thank you!”

I said I’d be over as soon as I could but by the time I got there, our neighbor Scott was already over there. He brought some fans over to help the water evaporate. Thankfully, they seemed to have it under control and the laminate did not look badly damaged.

some of the group who helped :-)

As we kept talking, I looked around and saw that there were some items still left in the upstairs space. I asked Keziah if they were just leaving those things in the house, but she said no, they weren’t. She had come over that morning to clear out the upstairs, only to encounter the damage to the floor.

I said, “You were planning on clearing all this out on your own? Some of the neighbors are over at our place right now. I’ll go get them and we’ll have this done in no time.”

Within a few minutes, nine of us were over there clearing out the upstairs. It was really beautiful to see how everyone instantly banded together to help. In fact, it represented to me everything the church is supposed to be about.

To be honest, that morning when I was setting everything out for our brunch gathering I wondered how many of the neighbors would be around for it. It was the day of the Pride Parade and I imagined that perhaps many of them were planning to be downtown for it.

After we finished helping Keziah, Leo grabbed the sidewalk chalk and started drawing to mark the significance of the day. For my part, I said a little prayer of thanks that we all got to parade down the street together to show a little kindness to neighbors who could use the help. Knowing how different we all are from each other, it would be easy to let those differences divide us. Knowing that we all look out for each other with tangible expressions of love is something we can all be proud of, in a good way. In some strange way, we had our own little Pride Parade on Sunday.

We may not be a church, but on Sunday these friends were my Church To Go and I wouldn’t have it any other way. As I reflected on this experience, it made me think of my normal Sunday morning ritual, where a child carries the light down the center aisle at Grace. It made me think, “What grace that was to carry the light down the street with one another.” And in my heart, I thanked God for these neighbors who have let me be their crazy Vicar, the imperfect person who happens to live right next door—the pastor who is still learning how to love and be loved.