Guest Post— On Being the Church: Receiving Nourishment
By Tessa Hershberger
These past few weeks I found myself writing the last of the (belated) thank you notes to people who brought us meals in the weeks/early months after Alida’s birth. And I found myself writing over and over (a version of this):
“Thank you for nourishing our bodies with food and our souls with your love/care/friendship.”
And each time I wrote this, I found myself reflecting on the food shared with us and the interactions each drop off held, which at a minimum included a warm greeting but often also included witnessing others experience the joy of new life in holding or talking to Alida and engaging Naomi as well as hearing us share the joys and challenges of the early postpartum season.
In remembering these moments, I am reminded over and over, of the ways our family is growing and this community is surrounding us with such deep nourishment for these intense days of parenting two young children. Though it may feel lonely at times, we are not alone. And the meals and words shared are concrete ways we are reminded of this.
Nourish, by definition, means to provide with food or other substances necessary for growth, health and good condition.
The journey of my faith and being part of church has held a good bit of deconstruction, frustration, and what seems like unanswerable questions. But also, being part of this body, I (and we as a family) have received nourishment of the soul (and body) through words shared, songs sung, warm arms ready to embrace us and our children, listening ears, delicious pot lucks, camping (in the rain or sun), playing in piles of leaves after church, etc. The gift of time and vulnerability. The gift of presence.
We follow and proclaim belief in a God who dwelled with us here on earth in a human body. A God who knows the need of physical nutrition and the need of a community to hold life with, to keep our souls also nourished. As a nurse who has worked in public health, there are studies that have been done (most notably the ACE scores) that show that our emotional environments matter, and a supportive community is a resilience factor.
At the end of September we had our church retreat at Highland, which I think many of you were able to attend. It was rainy all weekend. And yet, we played together, fellowshipped, made music, ate good food and drank lots of hot coffee and tea.
As the mother of a 3 month old and 3 year old, I felt such joy in watching Naomi engage other friends and play throughout the whole day. And I also found great joy in watching many of you enjoy holding Alida.
It was a weekend where I could eat some meals without holding a child. And it seems so simple, but the way that love was shown to us were many—
From an RV being brought for us to sleep in so we would be more comfortable given realities of many middle of the night wake ups…
…to watching others hold Alida or help Naomi roast a marshmallow or push her on a swing
…to to hearing music being made and songs sung together (I’m especially thinking about a song that was about you and I creating community).…
There might not be much theology you can pull out of that, but I know I came away from that weekend with a very full and refreshed heart. And I think sharing in life like this is a core part of being church. And definitely, for our family in this full season of tending little people, these are the actions that speak love into our lives and help fill our cups so there is more love to give.
I love the word nourish. When spoken, I feel like the word fills up your whole mouth and the meaning is about being filled with good things for growth. Being church is about being with one another and filling each other with good things for growth.
