summer reflection

Everyone who knows me, knows Central. I talk about you all the time to anyone willing to listen—there are endless stories to tell, and, mostly, my love for you overflows into the rest of my life. 
I feel unbelievably lucky to have gotten to experience and participate in the life of Central for a second summer. Many of you know Michael has been calling this my “remedial summer,” but if this is what failure evokes, I ought to fail more often! It is impossible to put into words (let alone succinct words) a place that has become home. If you don’t read on, hear this: thank you, a million times over, thank you.

This summer, I had the joy of sharing about Central often, whether collaborating in coalition meetings, building relationships with community partners, or (my favorite) guiding visiting youth groups. One afternoon, after working hard around the building, a middle schooler shared a takeaway from their experience: “it seems like God moves differently in everyone, so if I want to know more about God, I need to spend more time with different people.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

I have learned so much about God’s loving presence from Central’s loving community. I have had incredible teachers in Michael and Julia and Amber. I’m biased, for sure, but yall have the pastoral dream team! Many of you know I’m studying to be a pastor, and I cannot fathom better clergy to learn from. I pray I may one day be a fraction of the approachably brilliant, tangibly compassionate, creative and hardworking helpers and supporters and leaders and friends your pastors and the entire staff are.

At the same time, Central, you ALL have been my teachers:

I have witnessed you care for your neighbor, caring without regard to social status so that the lines between unhoused/housed, poor/rich, served/serving are so blurred they are ineffective at keeping us separate. Our community members, in particular, are the reason laundry runs smoothly and dishes get cleaned, etc. Yall are really good at connecting one another to resources, being the voice who finally convinces someone to go upstairs for treatment or sharing creative de-stressing techniques to a friend feeling overwhelmed or assuming responsibility for another’s belongings to give them peace of mind while they get what they need. I have learned about a God-who-is-as-close-as-my-every-breath from you, a people who do not contain the good news of God’s love to words or to a single moment of “church.”

I have witnessed you listen thoughtfully, not just to “authority” figures but to one another. You intentionally source perspectives from the unconventional sages and oft-overlooked voices in our midst. I have witnessed you ask hard questions and wrestle with belief, and I have seen, despite and perhaps even because of our diversity, a shared sense of belonging that honors the fullness of one another’s humanity and seeks to live out our values in tangibly evident ways. Together, you thoughtfully collude to discern your next faithful steps in love, whether that be loving your self, Central, or our broader community more fully. I’m so excited to hear about and experience and support all the unfolding ways you will continue to “be Central” to our beautiful, hurting world. I have learned from you about a form of God’s wisdom and embodiment that isn’t elusive or external: she resides within beloved community, woven into the marrow of you and me.  

I could go on forever with all that I’ve learned from my time at Central about God’s love and grace and acts of resurrection. But this knowledge is not my own and not something as easily understood in words as it is in experience. I am transformed, or perhaps more accurately, I am restored to myself by being present to the messy, marvelous work of community; by spending time with different people, just like that middle schooler recommended, and finding God in every single one of you. I pray you all may know this same transformation. And, because I know many of you do, I pray you may continue to become an agent of this transformation to one another (as you’ve been to me!).

So, most importantly, Central, thank you for you. Thank you for your warm welcome and hospitality. Some of you (shoutout Linda and Greg!) have literally opened your beautiful homes to me, and many more of you have shared your selves and your stories and heard mine in return. I will never take for granted the great privilege of knowing you and caring for you and walking with you during this season. Thank you for your trust. I’m going back to school (out of state, in Nashville) but I’ll be home on my breaks; I can’t wait to visit! Don’t be strangers in the meantime!

- mackenzie