God in my home space

My professor, Dr. Drane (a genius when it comes to interpreting culture and applying it to theology...read his stuff, it's amazing) asked me to write on the topic of our home and it's influence on our spirituality. Interestingly enough, I have recently had a series of conversations about this, so I decided to share.

I grew up in the country so the idea of being near cornfields brings me a lot of joy. I grew up where nature is every where and you can hear nothing at night but the stars twinkling. Outside may have been quiet, but inside was the opposite. My childhood home resembles some kind of cross between a funky coffee shop and a thrifty antique store. My mother is a starving artist deep in her soul, so there were always eclectic “projects” lying around. My father, a starving musician deep in his soul, so someone was always playing the guitar, the piano, or CDs (which is what we used before iTunes ). My brothers were rough and tumble, dirty country boys that neighborhood children feared and envied in the same heartbeat. Our home was never dull, never clean, never closed to passersby, and there was always an abundance of caffeine and conversation.

Now, I’m single, 20 something and living alone in a 2 bedroom townhouse and hundreds of miles from “home”. I’m getting used to the idea of not living with clutter (both literally and figuratively), but it’s tough. The home my parents built for my brothers and I had an openness towards community. It’s something I haven’t seen much of in Illinois. Friends were treated no different than family. I don’t always see that kind of community in my peer group. I’ve been blessed recently by the open doors of friends, but I still haven’t found that same balance of intrinsic and extroversion I had growing up.

So, because I long for that community, I’m torn. Do I stay somewhere that lacks the community that tugs so desperately on my heartstrings? Or do I leave the place where my roots have sprouted and gifts and opportunity abound? Community inevitably affects our spirituality. Everything we do in community is linked to the author of relationship, the graphic designer of community. When we experience a deficit in community, we are not experiencing what God has designed for us from the beginning. He creates Adam, gives him land in abundance and the fulfillment of work. Then, he looks and says, “It is not good for man to be alone.” From the very beginning God was drafting neighborhood block parties.