When I grew up in the North County of St. Louis, I had a lot of civic pride (North County Proud!-where else can you see the things that you see in the circle?). I loved Florissant--still do--but my community was not really defined by my geography. I regularly spent time in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Ferguson, Hazelwood, Clayton, St. Louis City, etc., etc.
My community was defined primarily by my church. Part of the reason was because I attended parochial school at my church, but even in high school and beyond my activities were usually connected with the church or with people from the church. My family was not the only one; in fact I know of at least a half-dozen families who were (and are) just like mine in spending a lot of time at church.
Now I live in a small town. There are many great things about a small town--John Mellancamp can tell you all about them. But when it comes to the church, there seems to be a bit of a difference. I could be way wrong, but it occurred to me this morning as I was walking the streets of Dwight, that many people would consider their community primarily defined by the town, and by the church only secondarily. First a resident of Dwight, second a member of Emmanuel. Because I had a community defined by my church growing up, church was where I went to be with my friends, with my extended family, whether in worship or other things.
I don't know if this is something that's more particular to a small town as opposed to a large city or suburb (the high school behind my house where I grew up had more students than my current town has residents). Perhaps it's a problem we've created for ourselves at Emmanuel by failing to foster a community around the Word of God and the Sacrament. I don't know.
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