Palmer Church, USA

The concept I am about to share is not my own. All credit goes to another staff member who developed this analogy over a few days' time of watching old movies with the kids and trying to figure out what her pages on our website really ought to be saying. Like many good ideas, it came unbidden in the search for something else. I share it here because it did all the things that really great ideas do: it inspired me, challenged me, comforted me, and made me want to go and tell just everyone all about it.

The idea started with a barn-raising in the movie "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". Everyone contributes to a barn-raising, bringing their wood and nails and giving their time to build the structure for the family who needs it. No contractors or change orders or workers who fail to show up, just everyone from town pitching in and getting the job done. It's the way small towns still function today in lots of places.

And the idea is that this place we call Palmer is more small town than big church. Our population includes all of the usual characters, the kid whose baseball inevitably goes through the neighbor's window, the woman who shows up with a casserole when someone is ill, the man who wants everyone off his lawn, the rich and the poor and all of the people who live and work and make it all happen without ever saying anything about it. And we, each and every one of us, belong. There is always room for more but the absence of any single one of us is noticeable and leaves an empty place.

As we talked about this yesterday, my energy level rose and emotions flowed. I felt pride and humility, gratitude and an urgent desire to give back more. I want to dig through everything I have for more materials to build your barn, because you have built so many of mine.

We want to send this energy out to the whole town. Jump into the conversation here or on one of the other blogs we publish, on Facebook and in Foyers Groups and when we pass the peace on Sunday morning. The barn doesn't get built without you.