Breaking out...
Social context is such an interesting thing because it is what most people base reality upon. For instance, a 15 year old sees reality quite differently than one who is 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, 85 and so on and so on. But again, it's due to their context.
This past weekend my wife and I were invited to a Christmas party at this family's home who attends our church. Now, there are around 1600 people who attend our church and the age groups vary, so needless to say, we don't know everyone. We did not know this family and that was the point of this kind lady inviting us into their home. They wanted to break out.
Once they found out that I am in seminary, they told my wife that we'd "better get used to hanging out with older folks" because my future line of work calls for our family to fraternize with folks of all different age groups.
This made me think about the way my wife and I approach life. Are we stuck in our own context viewing reality from the vantage point of a 27 year old, married couple in seminary, who don't have kids, etc, etc.
Well, we broke out this past Saturday and spent several hours with 3 couples who graduated high school in the 1930's. Yes, FDR was still President and the men were all WW2 Navy guys who still talked fondly of their times serving their country.
We found out that beyond our Christian faith, and attending the same Church, that we all really have so much in common and what we don't have in common, we have that much more to share in our new found friendships.
It was a wonderful evening and a life lesson really. Sometimes you have to break out and realize that life is so much bigger than your own context.
Book of the day, The Call by Os Guinness.
This past weekend my wife and I were invited to a Christmas party at this family's home who attends our church. Now, there are around 1600 people who attend our church and the age groups vary, so needless to say, we don't know everyone. We did not know this family and that was the point of this kind lady inviting us into their home. They wanted to break out.
Once they found out that I am in seminary, they told my wife that we'd "better get used to hanging out with older folks" because my future line of work calls for our family to fraternize with folks of all different age groups.
This made me think about the way my wife and I approach life. Are we stuck in our own context viewing reality from the vantage point of a 27 year old, married couple in seminary, who don't have kids, etc, etc.
Well, we broke out this past Saturday and spent several hours with 3 couples who graduated high school in the 1930's. Yes, FDR was still President and the men were all WW2 Navy guys who still talked fondly of their times serving their country.
We found out that beyond our Christian faith, and attending the same Church, that we all really have so much in common and what we don't have in common, we have that much more to share in our new found friendships.
It was a wonderful evening and a life lesson really. Sometimes you have to break out and realize that life is so much bigger than your own context.
Book of the day, The Call by Os Guinness.
posted by Bobby's blog at 2:21 PM
1 Comments:
Don't you think that this is what has caused some of our churches to become so stagnant? Because people are reluctant to break out of their social circles? I agree with what you've written. We all need to "break out" more often. Good stuff.
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