How we think about our neighbourhood changes how we live in our neighbourhood. If we think our neighbourhood is a product, we will pass by most of it until we find something that is useful to us. If we think our neighbourhood is just the place where we happened to buy our home, then we will rarely engage in the messy joys and challenges of our particular community. If we think that there is nothing meaningful about our neighbourhood, then we will not look for our meaning there, or give meaning to it. For some this has led to a growing sense of disconnection.
The way we think about our neighbourhood has an effect on how we live, work, play, and worship together. As a pastor, I often think about how churches in Canada have also made a gradual move away from caring for the daily life of our neighbourhoods. A few generations ago it used to be that a church gave particular interest and love to their ‘parish,’ which was the area immediately around the church’s gathering space, chapel, or sanctuary. They were deeply connected to the ups and downs of their communities. But with the advent of cars and a consumeristic posture towards all things, including faith, churches moved out of neighbourhoods to cheaper land on the outskirts. This resulted in fewer churches actually living in, with, and for their neighbourhoods. They existed out, apart, and for their members and their programs. Few predicted this would happen, but it did and it sadly continues.
Yet for all the changes in the way we think about our communities, many people still want that elusive ‘small town feel.’ Many of us want to know and be known by our neighbours. Similarly, more people may not be going to church, but that does not mean that we do not long for meaning in our faith and spirituality. The National Post last week reported on a new study and quoted Ray Pennings, executive vice-president of think tank Cardus who said, “when you actually take a look at everyday society, the majority of people are people of faith to one degree or another, and faith informs and influences many of the ways we deal with each other on a day-to-day basis.” Studies show that many still have a sense of faith, but do not gather to practice our faith like previous generations did. Disconnection affects all parts of our lives, including our neighbourhoods and our life of faith.
This is not the end of the story. Stories of reconnection are emerging in our neighbourhoods and our faith across Canada: people are coming together again. The past gradual move towards existing ‘out,’ ‘apart,’ and ‘for ourselves’ is turning in small and beautiful ways. We are becoming neighbours and churches who exist, ‘in,’ ‘with,’ and ‘for’ our neighbourhoods. When we live ‘in’ our neighbourhoods we participate in the life and wellbeing of our neighbourhood. When we live ‘with’ others, we find our meaning and purpose among others. When we live ‘for’ our neighbourhoods we find ourselves on their side, and discover that they are on our side, too.
This week I was walking along my street in Rainbow Falls and stopped to visit with our neighbours as a dozen kids were happily zipping in and around us on bikes. We’re planning block parties, watching each other’s homes, and tending to scraped knees; it is a picture of togetherness that is emerging with joy and hope. This week we celebrated Easter and worshiped with a couple hundred friends and neighbours, grateful to be a part of something so meaningful to us. People are coming together again and it’s happening because we are living in, with, and for our neighbourhoods. Bit by bit the era of disconnection is slowly giving way to a new era of reconnection, an era that looks brighter by the day.
