First Cancellation

This weekend, I did something I hadn't done since we started the Springs: I cancelled our table gathering. It was a big week too. We had new folks coming for the first time. Our neighbors were planning to be there. We were actually concerned about there being too many people in the house at one time, and were talking all week about how we were going to start new groups. Then Elizabeth got strep throat, and our house became off-limits to anyone who didn't want an infectious disease. The other couple in our group who have hosted before weren't available either, and in the end I decided to cancel it. Don't know if I made the right decision, but here are some of the thoughts that have run through my head.

First, I realized how desperately I want my friends and neighbors to experience real community. That hasn't always been the case, and the feelings I had marked real change in my life. I got really uptight about people missing the opportunity that the gathering at our house represented. Experiencing real community has elevated its value in my life without me realizing it.

Also, it became clear that our table is still a meeting. That's not all bad, and I think our table will always be partly a meeting, but I know it can be--and is becoming--more than that. One day I won't be able to cancel it. One day the table will be able to move across the street or into the yard on a moment's notice. One day the interaction between members of the group will be daily instead of weekly, and the weekly meeting will be only a small expression of much deeper and more important connections between people. There is already evidence of that deepening. Most of us now see each other or talk by phone or email multiple times each week. We have real relationships, we're not just a group of people who meet once a week or so. We do favors and ask favors of each other. Talk at the table now spontaneously goes to things that are important to us, not just small talk, which is possible because we're at least somewhat aware of each other's lives. We're also aware of each other's quirks...and no one is bailing out on anybody.

Third, I became keenly aware of the importance of proximity and connection to biblical community. I may have been most reluctant to try a last-minute reschedule because I didn't want to ask my neighbors to drive out of the neighborhood for their first table experience. From their perspective, it would be a quantum leap to drive to a stranger's house in another neighborhood instead of walking across the street to our house. One is a meeting, the other is dinner with friends. It's amazing how much difference that makes.