Thoughts on Living in the City

  • Mike Rydman
  • Mar 28, 2007

Thoughts on Living in the City

 

So now that we're living in the city, we're learning that life here is somewhat different.

 

We're learning, really for the first time that old houses come with their own wacky but fun challenges. We're learning what life is like with a basement, but without a garage. We're learning that living in the city includes a lot more noise. Police and ambulance sirens are heard in my neighborhood almost constantly. We put "clubs" on our car's steering wheels and we leave the porch lights on each evening. We have a new appreciation for the Everett Police Department, and for our own Block Watch group. We're learning we can sometimes ride bikes to our appointments and lunch meetings in Everett, but our commute back to Mukilteo is now a ten mile drive.

 

We've come to know some of our immediate neighbors, and have found them to be as engaging as our former neighbors. Even though we're in the city, people are still people. They take their trash and recycling to the alley each Tuesday, the mow their lawns and plant flowers, they upgrade their homes, and they even say "hi" when they pass me on the streets, just like suburbanites.

 

At the same time, we've noticed how much more sequestered people are in the city. Maybe it's the lingering dark of winter, but people are quick to exit their cars and quickly enter their homes, moving from one isolation to the next. Porch swings and lawn furniture are not really utilized, but the glow from TVs and computer monitors can be seen from house windows on every block, including our own.

 

This all hits me as a metaphor for our human existence - moving quickly from one safe place to another, only to be entertained by digitized images and voices that neither know nor care for us. Somehow, it hits me that this is not what God had as His original intention when He created the heavens and the earth, and when He created us to "know Him and enjoy Him forever."

 

Our current sermon series on Romans has told us about our new justification, our new standing before God because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Romans also tells us that God gave us the Holy Spirit as a "down payment" of His promises and blessings, and to be our new conscience and guide in God's ongoing effort to "sanctify" us to look and live more like His Son, Jesus our Lord.

 

We learn in Romans that our safety and security are found in Jesus alone. Those of us who have acknowledged His death and resurrection, and have responded to His sovereignty over our lives also know that we are safe in Him. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing can snatch us out of His loving and wise hand, and we look forward to the culmination of His plan for the entire earth, when we will enjoy eternity in the presence and pleasure of our God.  

 

In the meantime, our God has called us to be envoys, representatives of His righteousness and gracious love to this community. We are called to function as "priests" in our respective neighborhoods within our city. We are called to invite our neighbors into our homes, and to serve them as a priest is called to serve people God loves. We are called to invite people to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, and to find the assurance that only the grace of God can assure.

 

I'm excited for spring, and especially for summer. It is in the warm sunny days that I hope to meet more neighbors, and to see what my immediate neighborhood looks like in the daylight. I'm looking forward to backyard barbeques and late night dinner parties. I'm looking forward to conversations on the sidewalk, over the fence and in the alley. I'm looking forward to being with people who are a little more willing to live outside, and perhaps more willing to let me serve them as the "priest on my street" as God's missionary in my neighborhood.

 

I'm also looking forward to adjusting to life without a garage.