| Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’–Matthew 19:14
The day I interviewed for the Student Minister position in the fall of 2002 was the first day I stepped foot on the Edwards Church campus. I was anxious, so I brought brownies to share. Someone, it might have been Ruth Heckman or Mary Gillis, asked me what I thought about sharing communion with children. Before that day, I didn’t know this was a question that people debated. Why would anyone want to keep a child from God’s table? Isn’t there a whole gospel verse, straight from Jesus’ mouth, about that? (Matthew 19:14) Anyway…. It was a sign that I belonged here. There’s a photo of bright, curly, fiery red-haired Olivia as a toddler in an angel costume, taken in Sue D. Hall on the night of the Christmas pageant all those years ago. It’s part of our family’s core memories. We belong. There’s a series of snapshots, year after year, of the four of us in our best Easter clothes, on the front steps of the church, and you can see how our little family grew up here–not just the kids–the grown ups too. When we had no other family nearby–Edwards Church became our home, the place where we come to share our joys and our sorrows, the place where we come to be in community, the place where we belong. The years I spent as a member of the Board of Deacons shaped my adult spiritual formation. I cherish the friendships and connections I made with each Deacon who served with me. We did some amazing things, and we cared for our people and our community in ways that amplified God’s own miracles. The deacons gave me a wide-open panorama of what beloved community looks like. It’s my vision to share this love, this belief in amplifying the good, this panoramic view of possibility, with every queer kid I can find. Belonging is when we are free to both give and take. “Ms. Ellie” and Jacob share a special connection, they are kindred spirits. Ellie remembers taking care of Jacob in the nursery and she often tells us about his stories from Michigan–stories about the tractors and the dog. Ellie was Jacob’s confirmation mentor–I remember watching them walk around the cemetery during one confirmation exercise–with Ellie telling Jacob stories and Jacob remembering every word. Both kids had their high school graduation parties in Edwards Hall. You showed up. We are still so grateful. The day we built the Veterans Garden was a very happy day for me. I was so proud to finally be able to give back to the place that I felt I had only been accepting gifts from for so, so long. When the Nazi party marched in Boston, Willie Sordillo said, “we will fight for you, we will keep you safe.” I don’t remember if it was a prayer or a sermon or a song–to me it was all three and then some. For that moment, on that day, within the four walls of the church, I believed him–and I did indeed feel safe because I believed in all of you to make good on Willie’s vision. That was a gift. During COVID, when the church was closed and we were worshipping online only, there were some hard days. I watched co-workers at Lowe’s disappear and never come back to work, some died. I wondered what would happen to me, or to my family. I was struggling at Pilgrim Church– questioning whether I was making a difference at all, questioning whether I was “doing ministry right.” My mom died. In the middle of all of this–I would come and sit in a plastic chair on the lawn outside of Jonathan House. The spirit of Edwards Church, the quiet of our campus, the shared memories and shared community that our campus holds… was healing. I felt calm there. For those few moments, I could find my center, I could right my own ship–amidst the topsy-turvy, timey-wimey world that was COVID, Edwards was the place I returned to–again and again. When my very newly-minted best friend found herself in an increasingly intolerable environment at the church of her youth, I encouraged her to visit no less than 6 other churches before trying out Edwards. This was not because I wanted her to go somewhere else. It was because I wanted her to be 100% sure, without question, that Edwards was the right place for her and her family to call home. I always knew it was. I wanted her to know, too, and I wanted her to know on a level much deeper than ‘maybe.’ Now she knows the same belonging I do.
Prayer: –Dawn Sorensen |
