The bulk of our gatherings take place in our home. We live in the old Sellwood parsonage, which we call the Sellwood Faith Community House these days. We work hard to have our home be a comfortable place for our family and also a welcoming place for our community. Our house is not perfect, and that is actually just right for our imperfect community. It’s fundamental to create a place where our community can thrive, and we spend quite a bit of time cleaning and preparing to share this space so that we can share life here together.
When we first started a huge part of what we did was work on the house. I did up the front yard, put a new treatment on the countertops, and we painted quite a bit. These days the front yard could use some weeding and the countertops need to be redone. It’s not as important any more because the life of our community is in full swing. The yard and countertops will happen, but now coffee with folks and time spent preparing for our new children’s ministry are priorities. This means that when a glass gets broken or something gets spilled it’s no big deal because this home is not a museum or a carefully curated temple, but a living house where the Christmas tree is a bit slanted and the carpet has a stain or two.
For me there is joy in the imperfection, in the moving from setting the stage to living in the moment. And on this third week of advent that joy is what I am celebrating.
-Eilidh
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