During our summertime travels, my family teases me because I talk to strangers. They think it’s quirky, but I consider striking up a conversation with someone unknown a proven strategy. Why not ask a local for his favorite restaurant within walking distance? A willingness to admit you’re a visitor passing through can lead you to an amazing meal, down a trail to an extraordinary vista, or to a historic place of significance you would never have found on your own. Last month, a simple inquiry about finding a good cheese shop in Vermont had our GPS send us down a dirt road along a lovely, wooded creek bed for ten miles! Admittedly, eight miles in, I was beginning to doubt the recommendation, but we arrived to discover both a charming town and the 2023 1st place winner of the American Cheese Society.
Whether you are in Lancaster or Lisbon, I recommend you risk the eyeroll of a family member by conversing with someone you don’t know. However, you don’t need to travel far to have a meaningful interchange of discovery because the very best place to befriend strangers is in church.
Op-ed writer David French asked in his column this week, “What is the most important single thing that you can do to heal the national divide and to improve the social mobility of your struggling neighbors?” At this moment in time, he submitted that endorsing a vote for the right candidate and engaging in activism to raise visibility for a worthy cause might be our first response, but he offered a simpler, more difficult primary answer: make a new friend. We have become a nation of epidemic loneliness, declining connections, diminishing friendships, and rising despair. Through faith and experience, I know that congregational life offers a vital remedy.
The church is a unique community for strangers to become friends. While the news is filled with horrendous stories of violence, conflict, and division, the church leans into the good news of the gospel. The gospel is no panacea for all our ills; indeed, it leads us into risky confrontations with the ways of the world about which we might disagree. But our Christian, Biblical, and Reformed theological traditions help us create a safe place for difficult dialogue, a multigenerational community of support, a space for spiritual growth, and countless opportunities for strangers to become friends.
On Sunday, we celebrate Rally Day with worship together and lunch following. There will be good food, fun activities for children, and ministry display tables offering many avenues for involvement. I encourage you to come, enjoy the fellowship, and introduce yourself to someone you don’t yet know. It might just be the beginning of a vitally significant friendship.
