you belong here

What does it mean to belong to The Crossing? What does it mean to be a member? On Thursday, June 2, we'll have a Ritual of Commitment for people who want to join. But what does joining even mean?

That's a question we've mulled intensely for the last three years. The leaders of our Community Circle met over fried chicken and waffles Monday night, and Michael Zahniser, who is establishing our new Crossing house in Jamaica Plain, broke the whole idea of belonging wide open for me. He said, "We're a community that tries to hold people loosely, but membership is about wanting the community to hold me tighter."

Right. We focus so much on how transient our community is, but the fact is that everybody needs to be held, to have people love you enough to expect more of you. We worry about making heavy demands on busy people and asking too much; but maybe I want someone to ask me to stick, want to be held more tightly. You can only roam and skim the surface but so long.

Our Rule for Real Life is the primary way that we hold one another as we seek to live the Jesus Way more intentionally in our everyday, messy, mucky lives, and now we've surrounded it with more relational structures so it's got some power. Details are below, but just plan to come out next Wednesday, May 25, to learn about membership and commitment at The Crossing. Then, on June 2, you're invited to take on the Rule and to take up practices that bind us to one another and to God.

Moving away soon? Member of another Sunday church? You still need to know there is a community sending you with blessing and continuing to pray for and hold you. It's what we all need to thrive ... not just as Christians but as human beings.

Never doubt it: You belong here.

Read this week's entire e-news blast here.