30.b4.30 join something

it's taken a couple of years, but indianapolis is finally becoming home. i have a few favorite restaurants,
some really great friends and i've found myself a quiet little routine of life.

finding a church was at the top of my list of things to do when i moved here and i was lucky to find one fairly quickly. after a few months, i became a member. a few months after that and i was volunteering with the youth ministry. unfortunately, a year and a half later, i still hadn't found my place. i loved volunteering with the youth, but outside of the youth ministry staff i hadn't really met any other young professionals. i still felt pretty anonymous.

don't get me wrong - i craved the anonymity at the beginning. it was nice - worshiping every sunday without anyone knowing me, anyone talking to me, anyone asking anything of me, anyone expecting anything from me. this was a welcome change from the decade of working every weekly worship service.

the anonymity was great at first, but as time went on it just made me feel empty and alone. the whole point of worship is to live out our faith together as the body of Christ. we can praise God on our own. we can sing songs of worship in our cars. we can pray as we breathe. worship, though, worship brings us together in communion not only with God, but with each other.

i craved communion with a congregation.
and i hadn't found it.

truth be told, i hadn't really tried. i looked at small groups and sunday school offerings, but not much interested me. more than that, the things that did interest me were held during the day during the work week. this told me that either the groups were made up of stay at home moms or retirees. i'm neither.

so, this lent, the church implemented dozens of small groups centered around the sermon series. no reading required. just go to church on sunday to hear the sermon, then show up at your small group to discuss. a small group was offered for "twenty-somethings" and i signed up. i figured that it would only last 5 weeks and i could commit to anything for 5 weeks. if it wasn't a good fit, it would be over soon enough - no harm no foul.

those 5 weeks are over now, and it's hard to believe that our small group began as a collection of individual strangers. our first night together was timid and felt somewhat rehearsed. we have since made some real connections and are planning movie nights and dinners and kayak trips and service projects for the future.

and for the first time in two years, i'm no longer anonymous.