Coming home

Since I asked Nadine to introduce herself, I should do the same.

Hello, I'm Nick. I'm a fourth-year student at Manchester College, majoring in Peace Studies with an emphasis in Community and Social Relations. I've been pretty involved in Church of the Brethren stuff for the last six years or so, from local youth group stuff to the National Youth Cabinet. I also wrote for Messenger last summer.

I started this blog for young Brethren/Anabaptist/whatever people to talk about life through the lens of our faith. So far, most our posts have been largely issue-based, but that doesn't mean that the blog is limited to that format. I encourage authors to, as they like, write about personal experiences that they want to share with this community as well. (Actually, at this point, I just encourage authors. Sign on.)

I think I mentioned this before, but I just got back (four weeks ago today) from a year spent living and studying in Mexico. You might imagine (or know) that this brings all sorts of crazy experiences for me as I try to sort out who I am and where I call home.

One thing I missed in Mexico was Church. I attended a total of two services during my entire year there (one Catholic, one Jehova's Witness). And that's not for some shortage of churches in Mexico... it was a combination of classic college student laziness (I rarely attend Sunday services in Manchester), a different environment (no Wednesday chapels like at school) and a lack of belonging - both in terms of a familiar community and a familiar language.

A couple of weeks ago, I made it to a Taizé service at a Lutheran church in Indianapolis a couple of miles from the house I'm living in this summer. It was like coming home... the church was beautiful and the service was amazing. I love a sunlit, stone sanctuary, because the rays coming in from the high windows feel like God smiling in on me.

That's all. No point, no deep thought. Just an experience.