The River Church Community

As many of you know, Jeannie and I recently moved to the Washington Neighborhood.  We got a great deal on a bigger apartment—now we can have more than two people!  In our old apartment, if another couple joined us for dinner, we felt like crammed sardines.  No longer.  And believe me, we are grateful.   Our new place is spacious and perfect for hosting River people and our new neighbors.  

But we had not yet met our new neighbors.  Having moved one week ago, we are still in the process of unpacking.  Yet, despite our current transitional state, we decided (actually Jeannie suggested) that we make cookies for our new neighbors and meet them.  It is one of those things where you have a window of time to meet your new neighbors and you want to meet them before it is really awkward—yet, it also true that it is always a bit awkward!  It is always a bit awkward to approach the front door of a home whose residents you have never met.

And so we went.  We handed out cookies, chatted and even got home tours.  It was really encouraging.  Mostly, it was encouraging to see how God used our little offering to build bridges and even possible friendships.  It is amazing to me how God can transform a small offering into something beautiful before our eyes; we offer a cookie and God gives us joy in return. 

As you can imagine, we returned from our little cookie handout more full of life.  We returned more apart of the neighborhood, our community.  And for this I am grateful.  In an age of isolation and division, in this small way, we sowed the gospel of reconciliation and re-union.  Isn’t it wonderful how a cookie can go such a long way?  It is like the modern day manna.