Circling The Wagons

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

—1 Corinthians 13:6–7

I believe friendship is God’s greatest evidence of himself here on earth. Everyone needs a home team: a go-to, show-up, middle-of-the-night, come-in-without-knocking tribe that gets us through when things fall apart. I believe in circling the wagons—gathering your people around you to tell you the truth when all the voices out there are shouting bad news. And of course, I believe all this love and truth-telling and prayer and laughter happen best around the table.

That’s why I love Thursday nights, because Thursday night is small group night. We always eat together. We pray together, to begin and end our time together. We create space for each person to be heard, to talk about what’s good and what’s hard, to ask for prayer and help. We take confidentiality and the safety of the table very seriously. We don’t always do a study. Many times we read the Bible. Sometimes someone leads a liturgy or reading. Sometimes someone leads an exercise that helps us interact with a section of scripture or a set of ideas or spiritual practices. But every week, we gather around our table, and every week, my heart is so full and thankful.